Day: November 12, 2012

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Season 1 Wizards vs. Aliens

Rebel Magic – Part 1

Wizards vs. AliensVarg and Lexi accost a teenage wizard named Jackson Hawke and try to abduct him to drain his magic. He quickly shows that he has no intention of becoming their latest victim – and has the magic to back it up despite his modest age – by banishing them to the Egyptian desert with a single spell.

Tom is having problems at school – his grades are falling because he had been using magic to complete his homework, magic which he now feels he has to reserve for Nekross-related emergencies. Naturally, Tom’s dad has a thing or two to say about this revelation, and even at school, Tom is finding himself ostracized from his old crowd because of his recent tendency to spend his time with Benny. Tom narrowly escapes being mugged when Jackson Hawke steps in, and Tom is immediately fascinated by the older boy’s magical prowess, though he quickly learns that Jackson uses magic to avoid school, to avoid work, to avoid paying for anything – and he’s ready to teach Tom how to use his magic the same way.

Order the serieswritten by Joseph Lidster
directed by Griff Rowland
music by Sam Watts

Wizards vs. AliensCast: Scott Haran (Tom Clarke), Percelle Ascott (Benny Sherwood), Annette Badland (Ursula Crowe), Michael Higgs (Michael Clarke), Jefferson Hall (Varg), Gwendoline Christie (Lexi), Brian Blessed (voice of the Nekross King), Tim Rose (Nekross King puppeteer), Connor Scarlett (Quinn Christopher), Andy Rush (Jackson Hawke), Joshua Herdman (Steve), Claire Cage (Julia Hawke), Holli Dempsey (Meena)

Notes: The Nekross King devoured his own brother to ascend to the throne; it’s apparently not uncommon for sibling rivalries to be resolving in this manner on their planet.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Discovery Season 1 Star Trek

Into The Forest I Go

Star Trek: DiscoveryStardate not given: The crystalline transmitter on planet Pahvo is sending a homing signal identifying its location to both Starfleet and the Klingon fleet. Though ordered to withdraw to protect the Discovery‘s one-of-a-kind technology, Captain Lorca is ready to stay and fight. Saru and Burnham devise a means of gathering data on the Klingon cloaking device through a series of over a hundred spore drive jumps in rapid succession. In lieu of a suitable tardigrade creature, Lt. Stamets prepares to serve as the spore drive’s navigator yet again, over Dr. Culber’s objections. Burnham and Lt. Tyler beam over to the Klingon ship of the dead to plant the sensors that will gather the data, but discover that they’re not the only human life signs on board: Admiral Cornwell is still alive in Klingon captivity. So is L’Rell, imprisoned by Kol for her treachery. Burnham has to go it alone when the sight of L’Rell leaves Tyler in a state of post-traumatic shock, and to buy time, Burnham reveals herself and challenges Kol to a duel. Though Burnham is unable to overpower Kol, it will be his last fight as the Discovery gains the upper hand by finding the means to defeat the cloaking device. Burnham, Tyler and Cornwell are beamed safely back aboard Discovery, but L’Rell throws herself at Tyler in order to escape as well, and is promptly thrown in the brig. Though weakened, Stamets volunteers to navigate Discovery for one last jump home…though it would seem that Lorca still isn’t ready to return to Earth.

Order DVDsStream this episode via Amazonwritten by Bo Yeon Kim & Erika Lippoldt
directed by Chris Byrne
music by Jeff Russo

Star Trek: DiscoveryCast: Cast: Sonequa Martin-Green (Commander Michael Burnham), Doug Jones (Lt. Commander Saru), Shazad Latif (Lt. Ash Tyler), Anthony Rapp (Lt. Paul Stamets), Mary Wiseman (Cadet Sylvia Tilly), Jason Isaacs (Captain Gabriel Lorca), Jayne Brook (Admiral Cornwell), Mary Chieffo (L’Rell), Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber), Kenneth Mitchell (Kol), Michael Ayres (Transporter Technician), Conrad Coates (Admiral Terral), Emily Coutts (Keyla Detmer), Julianne Grossman (Disocvery Computer), Patrick Kwok-Choon (Rhys), Sara Mitich (Airiam), Oyin Oladejo (Joann Owosekun), David Benjamin Tomlinson (Klingon Bridge Officer)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Mars Season 2

We Are Not Alone

Mars2042: Mars has been occupied by human scientists and engineers for nine years, working toward the dual goals of finding out more about past microbial life native to the planet and making Mars habitable for human colonists. The original Mars colony has blossomed into a city-like outpost called Olympus Town, another ship from the International Mars Science Foundation is en route, and China has put a crewed space station in orbit of the red planet. But company is coming: Lukrum, a mining corporation from Earth with enough money to go interplanetary, is sending the crew and equipment for its own colony on Mars, devoted not to scientific research but to strip-mining for profit. Their ship’s arrival is explosive, to say the least, with its jettisoned heat shield raining debris down on Olympus Town. Worse yet, Lukrum’s workers arrive on Mars with a demand to connect to Olympus Town’s water supply, citing international treaties requiring the IMSF outpost to assist astronauts in distress. But Hana Seung, still in command of Olympus Town, is skeptical since Lukrum’s “distress” is by design, not by accident. A pipeline is approved by the IMSF, but what isn’t approved is the breakneck pace of construction – putting Lukrum’s employees and the IMSF colonists at risk – or the shortcut that Lukrum Base commander Kurt Hurrelle decides to take through an area that the IMSF has set aside for research.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Dee Johnson
based on the book “How We’ll Live On Mars” by Stephen Petranek
directed by Stephen Cragg
music by Brian Reitzell

MarsCast: Jihae (Hana Seung / Joon Seung), Sammi Rotibi (Robert Foucalt), Alberto Ammann (Javier Delgado), Clementine Poidatz (Amelie Durand), Anamaria Marinca (Marta Kamen), Cosima Shaw (Dr. Leslie Richardson), Gunnar Cauthery (Lt. Michael Glenn), Roxy Sternberg (Jen Carson), Evan Hall (Shep Marster), Jeff Hephner (Kurt Hurrelle), Levi Fiehler (Cameron Pate), Esai Morales (Roland St. John), Martin Angerbauer (Danny), Naomi Christie (Zhen Zhen Yow), Nicholas Goh (Gan Chen), Shea Hephner (Chelsea Hurelle), Timea Kasa (Clerk), David Miller (Assistant), Nicholas Wittman (Oliver Lee)

LogBook entry by Earl Green