Day: November 9, 2015

Categories
Big Finish Spinoffs Doctor Who The Audio Dramas UNIT

Vanguard

UNIT: The WastingKate Stewart of UNIT is invited to a public relations demonstration of a revolutionary low-cost 3-D printer marketed by Devlin FutureTech, which can print fully working electronics as well as simpler items. Devlin has had free printers donated to nearly every government office in the world, and promises to put 3-D printing in the hands of the entire human race. Kate is impressed, but is fairly certain that it’s of little interest to UNIT; she also finds herself hounded by a reporter who seems unusually well-informed about UNIT’s activities (and commanding officers) in the past. Back at UNIT HQ in the Tower of London, Osgood tracks an incoming swarm of objects heading toward Earth, and with Colonel Shindi and Captain Carter, sets out to find any objects that survive the Earth’s atmosphere and hit the ground. Many of the objects arrive intact around the world, and Osgood recognizes them instantly from UNIT’s records: a Nestene energy sphere, signaling a new Auton invasion.

written by Matt Fitton
directed by Ken Bentley
music by Howard Carter

Cast: Jemma Redgrave (Kate Stewart), Ingrid Oliver (Osgood), Warren Brown (Lieutenant Sam Bishop), Ramon Tikaram (Colonel Shindi), James Joyce (Captain Josh Carter), Steve John Shepherd (Simon Devlin), Karina Fernandez (Jenna Gold), Tracy Wiles (Jacqui McGee), Derek Carlyle (Tim Stevens) and Nicholas Briggs (Nestene Consciousness)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Big Finish Spinoffs Doctor Who The Audio Dramas UNIT

Earthfall

UNIT: The WastingOsgood is sent to the Gobi Desert to work with a UNIT operative, Lt. Sam Bishop, in locating a Nestene sphere of particular interest, a control sphere coordinating the movement of others around it. What they discover is that Autons are already on the scene, led by Devlin’s executive assistant, and the sphere itself is missing. Sam is injured in a firefight and Osgood is taken hostage by the Autons. Sam finds himself in the care of a Bedouin tribe, also in possession of the Nestene control sphere, and sets out to lure the Autons back to him so he can rescue Osgood. Kate pays Devlin, the head of Devlin FutureTech, a personal visit, trying to find out about Devlin’s recent unprecedented investment into the petrochemical and plastic industries, and his company’s overnight transformation from an IT company into the world’s leading maker of 3-D printers. When he reveals that he recovered from a debilitating disease by having his skull replaced with a plastic one, it seems to confirm Kate’s supicions that Devlin is in league with the Autons.

written by Andrew Smith
directed by Ken Bentley
music by Howard Carter

Cast: Jemma Redgrave (Kate Stewart), Ingrid Oliver (Osgood), Warren Brown (Lieutenant Sam Bishop), Ramon Tikaram (Colonel Shindi), James Joyce (Captain Josh Carter), Steve John Shepherd (Simon Devlin), Karina Fernandez (Jenna Gold), Tracy Wiles (Jacqui McGee), Derek Carlyle (Tim Stevens) and Nicholas Briggs (Nestene Consciousness)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Orville, The Season 1

Cupid’s Dagger

The OrvilleKaraoke night aboard the Orville is somewhat mercifully interrupted by new orders from Admiral Halsey: the Navarian/Bruidian conflict over the planet Lopovia – and its ruins that may indicate ancient settlement by either race, depending on DNA analysis – is coming to a head. Mercer is ordered to proceed to Lopovia and consult with a Planetary Union archaeologist, who will announce the results to ambassadors from both species immediately…in the hopes that the Union’s presence will keep a full-scale war from instantly breaking out over Lopovia. But a smaller-scale war seems inevitable when the arachaeologist turned out to be Darulio, the alien who ended Mercer’s marriage to Commander Grayson. Despite the palpable tension of sitting in the middle of a potential war zone, however, members of the crew begin acting strangely: after initially being enraged at Darulio’s presence, Mercer finds himself inexplicably attracted to his ex-wife’s former lover. Dr. Finn finally gives in to Yaphit’s advances. All of the strange behavior coincides with Darulio’s arrival, and may be related to his pheremones. As one of very few members of the Orville’s crew unaffected by these strange urges, Alara decides Darulio may be the key to preventing a war.

Order season 1 on DVD and Blu-RayDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Liz Helden
directed by Jamie Babbit
music by John Debney

The OrvilleCast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Halston Sage (Lt. Alara Kitan), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Chad L. Coleman (Klyden), Rob Lowe (Darulio), Victor Garber (Admiral Halsey), Larry Joe Campbell (Chief Newton), J. Paul Boehmer (Navarian Ambassador), Derek Mears (Bruidian Ambassador), Norm MacDonald (voice of Yaphit), Mike Henry (Dann), Ralph Garman (Kanoot), Stevens Gaston (Ensign Brooks), Gavin Lee (Henry Park), B.J. Tanner (Marcus Finn), Kai Di’Nilo Wener (Ty Finn), Alexander Bedria (voice from Comm)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Red Dwarf Season 12

M-Corp

Red DwarfThough he’s billions of light years away from the Earth he once knew, Dave Lister is – thanks to repeated stints in stasis booths – turning 50 years old. Kryten installs a microscopic monitoring device into Lister’s body to monitor his health, only for it to fail within minutes due to its outdated software. One software update later, the crew receives word that Jupiter Mining Corporation – the company that built and operated Red Dwarf – has been bought by a mega-conglomerate called M-Corp, which managed to buy Earth in the 26th century thanks to claiming everything, down to water, as its intellectual property. New supplies appear all over the ship, but as part of the M-Corp end user agreement, Lister will soon stop seeing anything that wasn’t made by M-Corp – his bed, his table, his beer, a hologram of his dead bunkmate, a creature descended from the ship’s cat, a sanitation droid…but M-Corp knows Lister needs friends and a home. And it will happily sell those things to him. If he can’t pay in cash, M-Corp accepts other forms of payment…such as taking years off of Lister’s life. Even if they can reach him in his new virtual reality world, Kryten, Cat, and Rimmer may not be able to set Lister free.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Doug Naylor
directed by Doug Naylor
music by Howard Goodall

Red DwarfCast: Chris Barrie (Rimmer), Craig Charles (Lister), Danny John-Jules (Cat), Robert Llewellyn (Kryten), Helen George (Aniter), Ian Boldsworth (Steve), Oliver Maltman (Chippy), Phil Adele (Jim)

LogBook entry by Earl Green