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Far-Out Space Nuts

Dangerous Game

Far-Out Space NutsA strange space vortex appears in the path of the lander, and when Barney and Junior investigate, a werewolf-like creature boards their spaceship. They are taken to Salana, a woman who tells them they will compete in games and play to win…or face spending eternity as her living trophies. Her wolf-like minions, Lycos and Lobos, are free to pursue them and ensure that they are not victorious. And simply not playing, as Junior suggests, isn’t an option.

teleplay by Sam Locke and Paul Roberts
story by Duane Poole and Dick Robbins
directed by Al Schwartz
Far-Out Space Nutsmusic by Michael Lloyd / arranged by Reg Powell

Cast: Bob Denver (Junior), Chuck McCann (Barney), Patty Maloney (Honk), John Caisse (Lobos), Lynn Cartwright (Salana), Mickey Morton (Lycos)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 1 Space: 1999

Mission Of The Darians

Space: 1999An advanced spacecraft identifying itself as the Daria drifts close to the Moon, sending out a distress signal requesting medical and technical help. Commander Koenig leads a rescue mission to the Daria, but when the Eagle from Moonbase Alpha is in close proximity to the Daria, the smaller ship’s systems are overpowered and it is drawn inside and docked to the Daria. As the Alpha crew explore the devastated interior of the ship, they encounter several dwarf-like beings, but Koenig and Bergman are overcome by taller, spacesuited guards. And yet a third group seems to make itself frighteningly apparent when a large, burly man attacks the guard accompanying Dr. Russell. When Koenig regains consciousness after being stunned, a woman named Kara explains that the city-ship has been overrun by primitives. Dr. Russell witnesses the primitives’ society first-hand when she is forced to watch as first one of the dwarves, and then her own security guard, are executed for being declared mutants by one of the larger beings. Her relief is short-lived when she learns that the primitives have been seeking a perfect victim for sacrifice to their god, Neman. Neman is also the name of Daria’s captain, who proposes an alliance with Koenig. Daria is a generational ship, launched hundreds of years ago, which is now closing in on its destination – a world that the Alphans could share with the Darians. But are the humans, whether from Moonbase Alpha or from the lower decks of Daria itself, being invited to be the Darians’ neighbors…or their food source?

Order the DVDswritten by Johnny Byrne
directed by Ray Austin
music by Barry Gray
additional music by Vic Elms

Guest Cast: Joan Collins (Kara), Dennis Burgess (Neman), Aubrey Morris (Darian), Prentis Hancock (Paul Morrow), Clifton Jones (David Kano), Zienia Merton (Sandra Benes), Nick Tate (Alan Carter), Paul Antrim (Lowry), Robert Russell (Hadin), Gerald Stadden (Male Mute), Jackie Horton (Female Mute)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Electra Woman & Dyna Girl

Ali Baba – Part 2

Electra Woman & Dyna GirlUnder the control of Professor Nabokov’s formula, Dyna Girl leads Ali Baba and his genie to Electra Woman’s secret headquarters, freezing Frank in the process. Electra Woman and Professor Nabokov escape from Ali Baba’s hideout and return to base, where they free Frank but discover that Dyna Girl is still in league with Ali Baba. Nabokov frantically tries to devise an antidote to his own formula, even as Ali Baba and Dyna Girl plan to use that formula to turn Electra Woman to a life of crime.

written by Dick Robbins and Duane Poole
directed by Walter Miller
music not credited

Electra Woman & Dyna GirlCast: Deidre Hall (Lori / Electra Woman), Judy Strangis (Judy / Dyna Girl), Norman Alden (Frank Heflin), Malachi Throne (Ali Baba), Sid Haig (The Genie), Ian Martin (Nabokov), Marvin Miller (Narrator)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 14 Doctor Who

The Deadly Assassin

Doctor WhoThe Doctor collapses in the TARDIS as it takes him back to his home planet of Gallifrey, experiencing a vivid premonition of the assassination of the President of the Time Lords’ High Council – a vision in which he seems to play the part of the gunman. Since the Doctor’s TARDIS is a stolen vehicle, he has to evade security guards upon his return to Gallifrey, trying to reach the President to warn him of his impending fate. When the Doctor tries to stop the assassin at the fateful moment, the only thing that any of his fellow Time Lords see is that he’s the man with the weapon. The Doctor uses a legal loophole to buy enough time to find the real killer, who turns out to be his oldest enemy – but this time, the Doctor isn’t the target. The Master, struggling at the end of his final regeneration, plans to take revenge on all of Gallifrey.

Download this episodewritten by Robert Holmes
directed by David Maloney
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Peter Pratt (The Master), Llewellyn Rees (President), Angus Mackay (Cardinal Borusa), Bernard Horsfall (Chancellor Goth), George Pravda (Castellan Spandrell), Derek Seaton (Commander Hildred), Eric Chitty (Coordinator Engin), Hugh Walters (Commentator Runcible), John Dawson, Michael Bilton (Time Lords), Maurice Quick (Gold Usher), Peter Mayock (Solis), Helen Blatch (Voice)

Broadcast from October 30 through November 20, 1976

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Season 1

Night Of The Screams

Alien NationSikes and George are assigned to investigate a wave of Newcomer murders, and the killer’s modus operandi lines up with the Tenctonese legend of Tagdot, a grotesquely mutilated alien who severed his victims’ hands. With Halloween approaching on Earth, the legends of Tagdot are being repeated by Uncle Moodri as ghost stories, but one thing is different about this killer – even if the murderer is masquerading as Tagdot, the hands have not been found. When the severed hands are recovered, they all have one thing in common, and the trail now leads George straight to the killer. But despite having the evidence he needs, George makes a decision not to arrest him – leaving Sikes to pursue leads that won’t put an end to the killing.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episodewritten by Tom Chehak
directed by Gwen Arner
music by David Kurtz

Guest Cast: David Opatoshu (Paul Revere), Bradford English (John Macy), Meagen Fay (Coroner), Wayne Powers (Car Salesman), Mitch Pileggi (John Paul Sartre), James Greene (Moodri), Anya Liffey (Mrs. Sartree), Michael Milhoan (Officer #1), Harry Caesar (Man buying car), Gwen E. Davis (Woman buying car), Susanne LaVelle Alien Nation(Newcomer Usher), Steven Majewicz (Tadgdot – adult), Jessica Puscas (Tagdot – child), Gabe Witcher (Lost Child)

Notes: In the original end credits as broadcast (and preserved on DVD), a character is named “Mrs. Sartree,” even though it should be spelled “Sartre” in keeping with Alien Nation’s custom of giving Newcomers the names of dead humans. The credits also mention a “Newcomer Ushser,” probably referring to the usher at the movie theater. Presumably there was a bit of a rush in getting the credits prepared for this episode.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 03 Star Trek The Next Generation

Booby Trap

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 43205.6: After taking the Enterprise into a mysterious asteroid belt to examine the only known relic of a long-dead race, Picard discovers that the asteroid belt is actually a lethal snare and assigns La Forge the impossible task of finding a way out before it’s too late. Geordi turns to the holodeck for a simulation of one of the Enterprise’s original designers to help him brainstorm an escape route.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Ron Roman, Michael Piller and Richard Danus
story by Michael Wagner and Ron Roman
directed by Gabrielle Beaumont
music by Ron Jones

Guest Cast: Susan Gibney (Dr. Leah Brahms), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan), Albert Hall (Galek Dar), Julie Warner (Christy)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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TV Movies

Without Warning

Without WarningIn 1994, three asteroid fragments collide with the Earth’s northern hemisphere, one in France, one in a sparsely-populated area of northern China, and another in an isolated region of Wyoming. A little girl is found by a news crew near the Wyoming impact site, and a man who was on a skiing vacation is recovered from a mountain near the crater in France. Both of them try to say something, but in both cases their words emerge as an incomprehensible string of seemingly random syllables. Within hours, from each impact site, a powerful radio signal is transmitted by an unknown source, jamming all air traffic, satellite communications and ground-based radio signals along the 45th parallel. As the world tries to take in the meaning of these events, a second asteroid is detected on a collision course with Earth. The Air Force launches two F-16 fighter jets to intercept the incoming asteroid with nuclear weapons, and though the mission is a success, the two planes mysteriously vanish. The population of a small town near the Wyoming crater disappears without warning, and the radio signals from the three impact sites cease. Concerned members of the scientific community, some of them defying orders from the White House and the Pentagon, offer the possibility that the geometric precision of the impact sites are a hint that the asteroids were, in fact, launched by an extraterrestrial intelligence. Three new asteroids are detected, aimed with equal precision at Washington, Beijing and Moscow – the capitols of the three Earth powers with nuclear capability. The two survivors of the initial impacts suddenly die, just before analysis of their disjointed words reveals a deadly secret. Another nuclear counterstrike is launched by the military, and the three asteroids are destroyed before they can make contact with their targets – but that action only seals the doom of the entire human race.

teleplay by Peter Lance
story by Jeremy Thorn & Walon Green and Peter Lance
directed by Robert Iscove
music by Craig Safan

Cast: Sander Vanocur (Sander Vanocur), Jane Maczmarek (Dr. Caroline Jaffe), Bree Walker Lampley (Bree Walker), Dwier Brown (Matt Jensen), Brian MacNamara (Mike Curtis), James Morrison (Paul Whitaker), Ashley Without WarningPeldon (Kimberly Hastings), James Handy (Dr. Norbert Hazelton), Kario Salem (Dr. Avram Mandel), Spencer Garrett (Paul Collingwood), Gina Hecht (Barbara Shiller), John de Lancie (Barry Steinbrenner), Patty Toy (Denise Wong), Dennis Lipscomb (Dr. Richard Pearson), Ron Canada (Terrance Freeman), Victor Wilson (Mark Manetti), Phillip Baker Hall (Dr. Kurt Lowden), Jim Pirri (Robert Marino), Alan Scarfe (General Lucian Alexander), Cynthia Allison (Cynthia Allison), Ernie Anastos (Ernie Anastos), Arthur C. Clarke (Arthur C. Clarke), Sandy Hill (Sandy Hill), Michelle Holden (Michelle Holden), Mario Machado (Mario Machado), Warren Olney (Warren Olney), Saida Pagan (Saida Pagan), Richard Saxton (Richard Saxton), Debra Snell (Debra Snell), Randy Crowder (Deputy Anson Peters), Diana Frank (Sylvie Chounard), Marnie McPhail (Donna Hastings), Sherri Paysinger (Pamela Barnes), Robert Peters (Dwayne Haskell), Lou Beatty Jr. (Dr. Jonas Tremblay), Frank Bruynbroek (French Skier), John de Mita (Major Powers), Tyler Cole Malinger (Tyler O’Neal), Marnie Mosiman (Annie O’Neal), Armand Schultz (David Case)

Notes: There are many slight errors which were probably intended to be deliberate clues to the viewer that this was not an actual newscast. For one thing, naturally, the coverage came from a Without Warningnews-gathering organization which no one has ever seen before (though CBS caught much flak for using its own standard news graphics, thus causing some of that genuine confusion and concern that made this movie so much fun!). Numerous actor cameos in the roles of reporters and others are a dead giveaway, particularly the ever recognizable John de Lancie. The “news coverage” is also too smooth by far – there seem to be live audio and video feeds from nearly everywhere the unnamed news network needs to be. How convenient! And absolutely impossible, too! The “interference” which peppers the screen often is actually the faded-in image of out-of-whack tape tracking on a broadcast grade VTR. Without Warning avoided a pitfall to which Countdown To Looking Glass fell prey – stepping out of character to show what was going on behind the scenes. The entire program maintained its constant “newscast” front for two hours in real time, with the singular exception of, at the very end, a shot of…well, that would be telling.

LogBook entry and review by Earl Green

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Deep Space Nine Season 04 Star Trek

Rejoined

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate 49195.5: A Trill science team arrives on Deep Space 9 to conduct field tests on experimental techniques for creating artificial wormholes. The leader of the team is Dr. Lenara Kahn, a joined Trill whose symbiont was once borne by the wife of one of Dax’s former hosts, Torias. Trill society has a strict taboo against “reassociation” with past lovers, for which the penalty is exile – meaning that both symbionts will die with their current hosts. Therefore Dax and Lenara must be careful about interacting…but despite their best efforts they find themselves reawakening old emotional ties. What will Dax risk in order to be with her former love?

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonteleplay by Ronald D. Moore & Renè Echavarria
story by Renè Echavarria
directed by Avery Brooks
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: Susanna Thompson (Dr. Lenara Kahn), Tim Ryan (Bejal Kahn), James Deep Space NineNoah (Pren), Kenneth Marshall (Eddington)

Notes: Susanna Thompson would later win a recurring role in Star Trek: Voyager; for much of that show’s last four seasons, she appeared numerous times as the Borg Queen, a role originated by Alice Krige in Star Trek: First Contact.

LogBook entry by Tracy Hemenover with notes by Earl Green

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Season 02 Star Trek Voyager

Persistence of Vision

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate not given: Although Voyager is about to enter Bothan space, the Doctor orders Janeway to relax with her holo-novel to help her deal with the stress of command. But the stress is magnified when she begins to see items and characters from the holonovel outside the holodeck. Neelix reports that not much is known about the Botha except that they are extremely territorial and that many ships have disappeared without a trace in their area of space. When the Botha rendezvous with Voyager, they launch an unprovoked attack. As they maneuver to resist the attack, Voyager’s crew are overcome by hallucinations which disable everyone on the ship except the Doctor and Kes, whose nascent telepathic powers enable her to resist the hallucinations. The fate of the crew hinges on their ability to find a way to repel the psychic attack.

Order the DVDswritten by Jeri Taylor
directed by James L. Conway
music by David Bell

Cast: Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway), Robert Beltran (Chakotay), Roxann Biggs-Dawson (B’Elanna Torres), Jennifer Lien (Kes), Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris), Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Tim Russ (Tuvok), Garrett Wang (Ensign Harry Kim), Michael Cumpsty (Lord Burleigh), Carolyn Seymour (Mrs. Templeton), Stan Ivar (Mark), Warren Munson (Admiral Paris), Lindsey Haun (Beatrice), Thomas Alexander Dekker (Henry), Patrick Karr (Bothan), Marva Hicks (T’Pel)

LogBook entry by Paul Campbell

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Season 1 Xena: Warrior Princess

The Titans

Xena: Warrior PrincessXena is in pursuit of the bandit Hesiot. She has cornered him and his men. They try to take her, but she easily subdues all of them except Hesiot. He steals a horse from a man that has entered the area. Xena takes off after him, leaving Gabrielle behind. Hearing voices from a cave, Gabrielle decides to investigate. Several priests have gathered and they are having a young woman read a chant from a scroll. They are about to give up on the chant, when Gabrielle tells them that the girl is using the wrong rhythm. She takes the scroll and reads it aloud. When she has finished reading, the ground shakes. She has just freed three Titans – Hyperion, Thea, and Crius. Xena has caught up with Hesiot at a tavern in the village. Before she can take him away, warriors appear in the tavern. Surrounded, Xena will have to let Hesiot go to fight them. Gabrielle suddenly appears, and she has brought the Titans with her. Believing that she is a goddess, they will obey her commands. When she orders it, Crius scatters the warriors easily. Gabrielle then orders the Titans to make repairs to the dam and other things that the villagers need taken care of. When they return, Hyperion demands that she uses her powers as a goddess to create a feast for the Titans. Gabrielle makes excuses as to why she doesn’t want to do that. Hyperion blows the young woman down. He’s annoyed to learn that he has been taking orders from a mortal. The Titan wants to take Gabrielle with them, but Xena stops him. He laughs when she says that she’s the “goddess’s” protector, until she stabs him in the foot when he tries to crush her and Gabrielle. Xena tries to find a place to hide Gabrielle, but Hyperion is demolishing all of the buildings in the village.

Finally a young preist leads the to women to the temple of Cronus. The Titans will leave that temple alone since it honors a fellow Titan. Hyperion threatens to kill any mortals he finds unless the villagers hand over Xena and Gabrielle. But the villagers are just as afraid of the warrior princess as they are the Titans. Some villagers realize that several of the children are missing. They had set out on an excursion earlier in the day and haven’t returned. Xena leaves the temple to search for them. Hyperion has heard the children and manages to send them into the cave that the Titans are staying in. Crius doesn’t like the what Hyperion is doing, and the two soon get into a fight. While they are fighting, Xena sneaks in and rescues the children. When she brings them back to the temple, Hesiot has convinced the villagers to free him and help him capture Xena. Hesiot and one of the villagers take Xena to the Titans. But while he and the other man aren’t paying attention, Xena has freed herself and escaped. Hyperion is angry and crushes the two men.

Xena returns to the Titans cave and overhears what Hyperion is planning. There are hundreds of Titans imprisioned in the cave and he wants Gabrielle to read the chant that will free them. When Xena goes back to the temple, she tells the villagers of Hyperion’s plans. She has an idea of her own and puts the villagers to work on it. Later Xena gets into an arguement with Gabrielle. And when no one else is looking, the young woman sneaks out of the temple.

Order the DVDswritten by R.J. Stewart
directed by Eric Brevig
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Andy Anderson (Hesiot), Edward Campbell (Crius), Jack Dacey (Creon), David Mackie (Rhodos), Syd Mannion (Calchas), Mark Raffety (Hyperion), Paolo Rotondo (Philius), Amanda Tollemache (Thea), Simon Cameron (Villager #2), Julianne Evans (Second Woman), Sian Hughes (Young Woman), Peter Morgan (Barkeep), Maggie Tarver (Villager #1)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

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Season 03 Star Trek Voyager

Sacred Ground

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate 50063.2: On a visit to a monastery on an alien world, Kes and Neelix visit a shrine. When Kes approaches it, an energy field knocks her out, and a government official informs the crew that Kes has been punished by the world’s ancient spirits for trespassing on holy ground. Beamed to Voyager’s sickbay, Kes is slowly dying and the Doctor can offer no alternatives to save her. Janeway beams down to the planet to undergo any voyage of discovery necessary to save Kes, but her path is less than straightforward and may not yield any useful information.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Lisa Klink
story by Geo Cameron
directed by Robert Duncan McNeill
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: Harry Groener (The Magistrate), Becky Ann Baker (The Guide), Estelle Harris (Spirit #1), Keene Curtis (Spirit #2), Parley Baer (Spirit #3)

LogBook entry by Paul Campbell

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Season 02 SG-1 Stargate

Touchstone

Stargate SG-1SG-1 returns from a visit to a planet where a device regarded as a mystical object called the Touchstone has given its inhabitants precise control over their climate. Carter is eager to return and study the device, which could be the team’s most valuable alien technology find yet. But when they go back, SG-1 is accused of stealing the Touchstone. O’Neill asks General Hammond point-blank is another SGC team was ordered to take the device, but Hammond says he hasn’t given any such orders. SG-1 pays a visit to Nellis Air Force Base at Area 51, where O’Neill accuses SG-1’s adversary, Colonel Maybourne, of stealing the device – especially now that freak weather conditions are affecting life on Earth. Maybourne dodges every question and accusation, and for some reason General Hammond can’t get through to the President. With disastrous weather wreaking havoc on two worlds, SG-1 discovers that the Antarctic gate has been moved and used by an unknown agency, possibly one acting under civilian authority. Even when they find a way to track the other stargate, General Hammond and SG-1 are keenly aware that any steps they take to retrieve the rogue gate (and its hijackers) puts the entire program, and their lives, in jeopardy.

Order the DVDswritten by Sam Egan
directed by Brad Turner
music by Kevin Kiner

Guest Cast: Tom McBeath (Colonel Harry Maybourne), Matthew Walker (Roham), Jerry Stargate SG-1Wasserman (Whitlow), Tiffany Knight (La Moor), Eric Breker (Major Reynolds), Conan Graham (NID Man)

Notes: Major Carter refers to “N.O.A.A. satellites,” referring to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration…but anyone, military or civilian, routinely referring to that agency would pronounce it “Noah” rather than spelling out the acronym.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 6 Xena: Warrior Princess

Legacy

Xena: Warrior PrincessXena and Gabrielle are traveling through a desert when they get caught in a sandstorm. They manage to find a grotto where they seek shelter and clean up. When the storm dies down, they hear the sound of fighting nearby. A group of nomads on horseback are attacking a smaller group of people on foot. Xena decides that they should even the odds and soon, the nomads that were attacking are in retreat. But the people they’ve helped aren’t very friendly to them, particularly when they hear Gabrielle call Xena by name. The leader says that she can’t be Xena because she’s long dead. The warrior proves herself when she demonstrates her skill with her chakram – and to Xena’s surprise, the people bow to her.

Order the DVDswritten by Melissa Good
directed by Chris Martin-Jones
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Alison Bruce (Kahina), Rawiri Pratene (Tazere), Owen Black (Korah), John O’Leary (Dalius), Graham Dolan (Nomad #2), Gregor McLennan (Nomad #1), Philip Spencer-Harris (Roman Captain), Barry Te Hira (Nomad Lookout)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

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Enterprise Season 02 Star Trek

Marauders

Star Trek: EnterpriseA small outpost of settlers is surprised when an Enterprise shuttlepod descends and lands. Archer, Trip and T’Pol greet the settlers, asking to trade for deuterium fuel. Tessic, the leader of the settlement refuses, saying his outpost only has a small supply – which clashes with the full tanks spotted by the shuttle’s scanners from orbit. Archer finally strikes a deal with the settlers, trading some of Enterprise’s power cells and medical supplies for the fuel. When another ship arrives in orbit, Tessic asks the visitors from Enterprise to stay out of sight, and Archer soon learns why – a group of Klingon pirates has an “arrangement” with Tessic. Every season, the Klingons take every liter of deuterium mined, and they pay the settlers back by not harming them. Archer is determined to end the siege, and plans an elaborate trap for the Klingons. He also arms and trains the settlers to defend themselves.

Order DVDsDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxteleplay by David Wilcox
story by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
directed by Mike Vejar
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Larry Cedar (Tessic), Bari Hochwald (E’lis), Steven Flynn (Maklii), Jesse James Rutherford (Q’Ell), Robertson Dean (Korok)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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7th Doctor Doctor Who

Master

Doctor Who: MasterIt’s a dark and stormy night in the town of Perfugium, and old friends have gathered at a stately Edwardian mansion to celebrate the birthday of their mysterious friend, Dr. John Smith. Only it’s not really his birthday – it’s the tenth anniversary of the day that the amnesiac, seemingly horribly burned, and yet compassionate-to-a-fault Smith first appeared in Perfugium. His inability to remember anything beyond the past ten years troubles Dr. Smith greatly, but he has become even more concerned recently with thoughts that seem to betray his gentle nature – thoughts that can only be described as pure evil. Even more unnerving is the arrival of a strange little man, also claiming to be a doctor, who begins to drop disturbing hints that Dr. John Smith does indeed have a past – a past in which he was known as an irredeemably evil genius called the Master.

written by Joseph Lidster
directed by Gary Russell
music by David Darlington

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Geoffrey Beevers (The Master), Philip Madoc (Inspector Victor Schaeffer), Anne Ridley (Jacqueline Schaeffer), Charlie Hayes (Jade), Daniel Barzoti (The Man)

Timeline: before the 1996 TV movie and apparently after Excelis Decays since the Doctor assumes the nom de plume of “Vaughn Sutton,” whom he defeated on Excelis.

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green