August 19, 2002 – theLogBook.com Episode Guides

Season 2 Witchblade

Palindrome

By theLogBook.com
August 19, 2002

Witchblade A man turns up dead, beaten to death by blunt force, and Pezzini, Danny and McCarty uncover evidence of a secret fight club whose fighters are recruited mainly from one of the dockyards. Danny and McCarty manage to get jobs at the docks and stage a fight between themselves to attract the attention of one of the club’s recruiters. They’re inducted into the club, with Pezzini following to keep an eye on them, but she also sees someone else she feels an inexplicable affinity for – another fighter who goes by the name of Conchobar. Pezzini can’t explain why she’s drawn to the circumspect Irishman, nor can she explain her visions of being romanced by him – or witnessing his death. Nor can she explain why Conchobar seems equally attracted to her – or why he claims to know who she is, and has seen the same visions she has.

written by Roderick Taylor & Bruce A. Taylor
directed by Paul Holahan
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Kim de Lury (Conchobar), Kathryn Winslow (Vicki), Joel Marsh Garland (Eddie Pan), Gabriel Richards (Carlos Ramone), Irene Lopez Ruchelan (Mrs. Ramone), Robbie Rox (Foreman), Etheridge Hyndman (SWAT officer), Tracy Waterhouse (Nurse), and Lazar

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Medicinal Purposes

By theLogBook.com
August 19, 2004

Doctor Who: Medicinal Purposes The Doctor and Evelyn arrive in Scotland, and the Doctor quickly deduces that they’ve arrived at the time of the infamous string of grave robberies attributed to Burke & Hare. But things are not as they should be – the Doctor begins to notice that certain things are out of place, and certain elements of history are not as they should be. The time travelers quickly find out why history seems to be playing out differently than recorded: they’re not the only ones there with a TARDIS.

written by Robert Ross
directed by Gary Russell
music by David Darlington

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Maggie Stables (Evelyn), Leslie Phillips (Dr. Robert Knox), David Tennant (Daft Jamie), Glenna Morrison (Mary Patterson), Kevin O’Leary (William Burke), Tom Farrelly (Billy Hare), Janie Booth (Old Woman)

Notes: The villain in this story claims to have procured his TARDIS second-hand on the planet Gryben; that planet is mentioned in the Gallifrey audio miniseries as a stronghold set aside by the universe’s time-traveling superpowers to detain any time travelers who gain access to time without having developed sufficiently enough to use that ability maturely and harmlessly.

Timeline: after Arrangements For War

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Season 09 SG-1 Stargate

Beachhead

By Dave
August 19, 2005

The Ori send a Prior to a world inhabited by free Jaffa. When the Jaffa refuse to accept the way of Origin, the Prior erects a force field around himself and the Stargate. A minor Goa’uld named Nerus makes contact with Stargate Command. His observational satellites over the Jaffa world are but one of his technological innovations, and he offers his assistance against the Ori. He provides intelligence that indicates the field is expanding and that somehow, the Ori are keeping the Stargate open indefinitely. Vala warns Gen. Landry not to trust any Goa’uld. But when the Jaffa high council does not respond to his messages, Landry feels Earth must do something to stop the Ori incursion. He sends Mitchell, Jackson and Teal’c to rendezvous with the Prometheus and then make contact with the Ori. Mitchell has orders to use any means necessary to stop the Ori, which includes using the Mark IX, a naquaddah-enhanced nuclear device capable of destroying a Stargate. Landry requests, and is granted, Carter’s assistance on the mission. Vala reluctantly joins as well because although the effects of the Goa’uld bracelets are weakening, she and Daniel still suffer ill effects when separated.

Mitchell delivers the ultimatum to the Prior. While the team is on the planet, Gerak arrives with a fleet of Jaffa ships to bombard the forcefield. Col. Pendergast aboard the Prometheus gets Gerak to stop in order to beam the team back aboard, but Gerak is upset at losing the element of surprise and at the humans’ seeming inactivity. Shortly thereafter, the Mark IX detonates. But the Stargate is not destroyed, and the force field expands more rapidly. Gerak resumes his bombardment and demands that the Prometheus join the assault. Mitchell authorizes the ship to do so, until Carter realizes that the force field is drawing upon the energy involved to fuel its expansion. Furthermore, the planet itself is collapsing. Carter theorizes that the Ori are using a black hole in their galaxy to power the wormhole, and are now forming one in the Milky Way to add power on both ends. Nerus has lured them into providing the Ori the power necessary to establish their beachhead. And now, unless the team can stop them, they will build a giant gate in space, capable of transporting a full-scale invasion fleet from their galaxy to ours.

written by Brad Wright
directed by Brad Turner
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Claudia Black (Vala), Barclay Hope (Col. Pendergast), Gary Jones (Sgt. Walter Harriman), Maury Chaykin (Nerus), Louis Gossett, Jr. (Gerak)

Notes: Nerus claims to have assisted Ba’al, the Jaffa, and the SGC defeat the Replicators in season 8’s Reckoning.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

Season 2 Stargate Stargate Atlantis

Trinity

By theLogBook.com
August 19, 2005

While surveying the Dorandan homeworld, the Atlantis team discovers a destroyed Wraith fleet and lifeless planet below. McKay detects faint energy readings, leading to an abandoned outpost laboratory on the planet. The technology is definitely that of the Ancients and McKay determines that they were working on a vacuum energy power source that would make the Zero Point Module look “like an alkaline battery.” After returning with a full research team, McKay conducts a full test of the power source, resulting in a barely-controlled overload and the death of one of the scientists. Despite Weir’s considerable misgivings, McKay convinces her that he can control the reaction and wants to run another test with just him and Sheppard present. The possibility of a power source that could turn the tide against the Wraith is too promising to dismiss entirely, so she agrees. However, things don’t go entirely according to plan.

Meanwhile, Ronon accompanies Teyla on a trade mission to Belkan. Ronon’s aggressive nature causes him to interfere with Teyla’s delicate negotiations. Afterwards, Teyla learns that someone else from Ronon’s homeworld of Sateda lives on Belkan. Ronon is reunited with a fellow soldier and learns that Kell, his former taskmaster in the Satedan military, is still alive and well. It turns out that not all reunions are happy reunions.

written by Damian Kindler
directed by Martin Wood
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: David Nykl (Dr. Zelenka), Sean Campbell (?), Mitch Pileggi (Colonel Steven Caldwell), Christopher Gauthier (Mattas), Chuck Campbell (Technician)

Note: Trinity refers to the parcel of land near Alamogordo, New Mexico that served as the first test site for the atomic bomb on July 16, 1945.

LogBook entry by Jeff Godemann

Battlestar Galactica (New Series) Season 2

Home, Part 1

By theLogBook.com
August 19, 2005

The fleet has been divided. Twenty-four ships and 18,000 people have decided to follow Roslin back to Kobol. There they hope to find the legendary Tomb of Athena, which contains a map leading the way to Earth. As Roslin discusses their next move with Zarek and his people, an unknown contact approaches. Before the decision is made to open fire, a radio transmission comes through from Lt. Starbuck and the ship is allowed to dock. Starbuck has brought back not only the Arrow of Apollo, but Lt. Helo and his Cylon companion, Sharon, who claims to be pregnant with Helo’s baby. Roslin has a chat with Sharon, promising to spare her life in exchange for serving as guide to find the lost Tomb on Kobol. Priest Elosha warns that prophecy says a price will be paid in blood during any attempt to find the Tomb. Zarek and Meier, meanwhile, have their own ideas about the future of the fleet and decide that the mission to Kobol will be the perfect place to set them in motion.

Back at the Galactica fleet, Adama picks the green Lt. Birch as the new CAG for the Viper squadrons. Birch’s inexperience leads to several near disasters, forcing Adama to rethink his decision. He confides in Dualla that his feeling of being betrayed has filled him with an almost-overwhelming rage, but she suggests that the real problem is that he has failed to keep his promise to lead the fleet to Earth together.

written by David Eick
directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan
music by Bear McCreary

Guest Cast: Michael Hogan (Colonel Tigh), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Alessandro Juliani (Lt. Gaeta), Kandyse McClure (Dualla), Lorena Gale (Priest Elosha), Richard Hatch (Tom Zarek), James Remar (Meier), Patricia Idlette (Sarah Porter), Malcolm Stewart (Marshall Bagot), Luciana Carro (Louann “Kat” Katraine), Bodie Olmos (Brendan “Hotdog” Costanza), Ben Ayres (Lt. George “Catman” Birch), Linnea Sharples (Lt. Emmitt “Sweetness” Jones), Christina Schild (Playa), Biski Gugushe (Sekou Hamilton), Raahul Singh (Kimmitt)

LogBook entry by Jeff Godemann

Season 4: Miracle Day Torchwood

Immortal Sins

By theLogBook.com
August 19, 2011

Ellis Island, 1927: Jack Harkness befriends an Italian immigrant and falls in love. Even when it becomes clear that Jack leads a dangerous life and deals with forces beyond human experience, his lover stays by his side – at least until he sees Jack die. A seemingly happy reunion years later turns out to be anything but: Jack is betrayed and tortured, killed repeatedly for nothing more than sport and spectacle. His repeated resurrections, however, draw the attention of someone more powerful.

Los Angeles, 2011: With the forces behind the “miracle” communicating to her via her Torchwood-issued contact lenses, Gwen learns that Rhys, her mother and her child are being held hostage. The price for freeing her family is delivering Jack into the hands of whoever is calling the shots. Thanks to her Torchwood training, it’s a task she’s able to complete with ruthless efficiency – but sensing something wrong, Rex and Esther decide to intervene.

written by Jane Espenson
directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton
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), Sharon Morgan (Mary Cooper), Nana Visitor (Olivia Colasanto), Tom Price (Sgt. Andy Davidson), Daniele Favilli (Angelo Colasanto), Pat Asanti (Inspector), Michael Chomiak (SWAT Member), Cris D’Annunzio (Salvatore Maranzano), Will Green (Young Priest), Paul Hayes (Costerdane), Everton Lawrence (Ablemarch), Griffin Matthews (Young Man), Frank Medrano (Mr. Giardano), Angelica Montesano (Girl in crowd), Shawn Parsons (Frines), Vanna Salviati (Elderly Woman), Jayne Taini (Mrs. Giardano), Darren Dupree Washington (SWAT Leader)

Notes: This episode contains the first explicit Torchwood mention of the Doctor since Children Of Death: Day Five, and the first mention of the Trickster’s Brigade (Doctor Who: Turn Left, Sarah Jane Adventures: The Wedding Of Sarah Jane Smith) in Torchwood. Though it’s not made clear where the fateful visit to New York City falls in Jack’s personal timeline, he does mention Torchwood (and the Doctor restored the time-travel capability of Jack’s vortex manipulator), so it may well take place after Jack’s departure in Children Of Earth: Day Five.

Nana Visitor is famous to SF TV fans as Major (and later Colonel) Kira Nerys, the Bajoran first officer on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. She guest starred in several episodes of James Cameron’s Dark Angel series as Madame X (where she also pulled the strings behind evil plots).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

2010s Series Tick, The

Pilot

By theLogBook.com
August 19, 2016

1908: An alien artifact of unimaginable power plummets through Earth’s atmosphere and explodes over a forest in Tunguska, Russia. The emissions from this unearthly explosion imbue some humans with superpowers…and also serves as a beacon to others. Both superheroes and supervillains are now a part of life on Earth.

20 years ago: Young Arthur Everest witnesses the crash-landing of a spacecraft crewed by superheroes…pursued closely by a spacecraft full of supervillains. Incidentally, the crashing spaceship also crushes and kills Arthur’s father before his very eyes. A photographer captures a shot of Arthur being menaced by the supervillains’ leader, The Terror.

Now: Years of medication, treatment, and legal issues have left Arthur a barely-functional adult. Convinced that the Terror still lurks somewhere nearby, controlling the criminal underworld, Arthur has devoted his life to tracking the Terror down…despite the rest of the world insisting that the Terror was killed by a superhero known as Superian. Arthur follows one of his hunches to the city docks, spying on a criminal operation, when he is confronted by a superhero in an inadvisably tight blue suit – the Tick! The Tick seems certain that Arthur is destined to be his new sidekick. And Arthur may finally get the answer to the question that has consumed his life – is the Terror still alive? – unless befriending the Tick gets him killed first.

written by Ben Edlund
directed by Wally Pfister
music by Chris Bacon

Cast: Peter Serafinowicz (The Tick), Griffin Newman (Arthur Everest), Valorie Curry (Dot Everest), Brendan Hines (Superian), Jackie Earle Haley (The Terror), Yara Martinez (Ms. Lint), Kyle Catlett (young Arthur), Joanna P. Adler (Dr. Creek), Malachi Weir (Thug #2), Christian Navarro (Sidekick), Whoopi Goldberg (herself), Richie Moriarty (Mr. Everest), Andrew Dolan (Officer Dietz), Sonam Kunlingtse (Herder), Henry Yuk (Shaman), Berto Colon (Thug #1), Siraj Huga (Cab Driver)

Notes: The half-hour pilot episode of The Tick restarts the story, completely separate from the previous live-action series starring Patrick Warburton (who is a producer of this series), the animated series that inspired it, or the comics that inspired all of the above. The Tick creator Ben Edlund returns to revamp his unlikely hero for a new decade, and a new distribution channel: this pilot was distributed free as part of Amazon’s Pilot Season event in 2016, winning a series pickup later that year.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Lower Decks Season 02 Star Trek

Kayshon, His Eyes Open

By theLogBook.com
August 19, 2021

Stardate not given: The Cerritos is called into to inspect the belongings of a recently deceased member of the Collectors’ Guild to ensure that, among the things he was hoarding, he wasn’t hoarding anything dangerous. Assigned to lead the away team is new security chief Lt. Kayshon, the first Tamarian in Starfleet. Perhaps not unsurprisingly for an obsessive collector’s ship, a booby trap is eventually tripped, unleashing a weapon that turns Kayshon into a cuddly (but helpless) puppet, and locking down all the exits. Mariner and Ensign Jet Manhaver jockey for leadership of the away mission as it grows more perilous by the second. Aboard the Titan, which has been fending off constant Pakled attacks, Captain Riker sends an elite undercover team – including Boimler – to infiltrate and bring down a Pakled mining operation. Suddenly, merely “perilous” sounds really good to the Titan‘s newest officer.

written by Chris Kula
directed by Kim Arndt
music by Chris Westlake

Cast: Tawny Newsome (Ensign Beckett Mariner), Jack Quaid (Ensign Brad Boimler), Noel Wells (Ensign D’Vana Tendi), Eugene Cordero (Ensign Rutherford), Dawnn Lewis (Captain Freeman), Jerry O’Connell (Commander Ransom), Fred Tatasciore (Kerner Hauze), Gillian Vigman (Dr. T’Ana), Jonathan Frakes (Capt. William T. Riker), Rich Fulcher (Pakled Leader), Robert Gilbert (Titan Chief Engineer), Marcus Henderson (Jet Manhaver), Vanessa Marshall (Titan First Officer), Jessica McKenna (Barnes), Nolan North (Titan Conn Officer), Ben Rodgers (Stevens), Ryan Stanger (Titan Tactical Officer), Carl Tart (Kayshon), Paul F. Tompkins (Dr. Migleemo)

Notes: Kayshon is a Tamarian, the species introduced in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Darmok (1992) which communicates only in metaphor; universal translator technology seems to have helped to bridge the communication gap…for the most part. Kivas Fajo (TNG: The Most Toys, 1990) was also a member of the Collectors’ Guild, and his attempt to abduct Data is widely known in Starfleet. Among the more visible (and sometimes inexplicable) artifacts in Kerner Hauze’s collection were:

The Curiosity Mars Rover

The remains of the Excalbian and “Abraham Lincoln” (TOS: The Savage Curtain, 1969)

The remains of the giant clone of Spock (TAS: The Infinite Vulcan, 1973)

Khan’s broken-Starfleet-emblem pendant (Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan, 1982)

Game headset (TNG: The Game, 1992)

What appears to be Odo’s bucket (numerous episodes of DS9, though the third season of Star Trek: Picard implied that this bucket was changeling standard issue)

Boimler, like Riker, now has an identical “transporter clone” to contend with (a la Thomas Riker from TNG: Second Chances and DS9: Defiant), prompting the original Boimler to return to the Cerritos. Vanessa Marshall is already major-sci-fi-franchise royalty, having played Hera Syndulla in all four seasons of Disney’s Star Wars: Rebels. Actual Kayshon puppets quickly became a hot ticket on Etsy following this episode.