Day: November 24, 2008

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Sarah Jane Adventures Season 2

The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith – part 2

The Sarah Jane AdventuresThe Trickster eagerly declares himself victorious, but underestimates Sarah’s resolve. But even she’s having a hard time setting this situation right, when even Luke is suggesting that her parents must die to restore the timeline. Clyde and Rani, after discovering the alien artifact that kept Maria and then her father safe during the Trickster’s last incursion, find themselves in an alternate timeline where humanity is enslaved by the Graske – and the Graske is enslaved by the Trickster. Rani strikes a bargain to help the Graske in exchange for sending her back to 1951 with a piece of information that changes everything…but even with that information, Sarah is horrified to discover that the world still ultimately depends upon her parents to willingly lay down their lives.

Get the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Gareth Roberts
directed by Graeme Harper
music by Sam Watts / title music by Murray Gold

Guest Cast: Mina Anwar (Gita Chandra), Ace Bhatti (Haresh Chandra), Alexander Armstrong (Mr. Smith), Rosanna Lavelle (Barbara Smith), Christopher Pizzey (Eddie Smith), Paul Marc Davis (The Trickster), Jimmy Vee (The Graske), Georgie Glen (Mrs. King), Robert Madge (Oscar), Andrew Bullivant (PC Ferguson), Philip Hurd-Wood (voice of the Graske)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Blake's 7 New Series - Early Years

Point Of No Return / Eye Of The Machine

Blake's 7: The Early Years - Point Of No Return / Eye Of The MachineEye Of The Machine: Brilliant post-grad computer science whiz Kerr Avon meets two people who will change his life forever: renowned artificial intelligence instructor David Ensor, and would-be revolutionary Anna Grant, who is rallying college students to the cause of an unconventional, up-and-coming politician named Roj Blake. Each of these people have their own agendas where Avon is concerned, and both of them will change his feelings on the subject of trust forever.

Point Of No Return: Major Stefan Travis, a rising but unremarkable Federation officer, is specifically requested to head up an investigation into the activities of revolutionary – and suspected terrorist – Carl Varon, and his help has been requested by Varon himself, who insists he is being framed by the Federation. When Travis looks into the evidence records that landed Varon in prison, he does indeed find a few clues that Varon may have been railroaded, enough to put a seed of doubt about the Federation’s motives in Travis’ mind. But when a dead man and a murder weapon turn up, Travis wonders if anyone in this case is telling him the truth. When he discovers that Varon may be planning an attack that could result in a stunning loss of civilian lives, Travis takes no chances.

Order this story on CDPoint Of No Return written by James Swallow
Eye Of The Machine written by Ben Aaronovitch
Point Of No Return directed by Duncan McAlpine
Eye Of The Machine directed by Andrew Mark Sewell
music by Alistair Lock

Point Of No Return Cast: Craig Kelly (Travis), Jake Maskall (Sublieutenant Garcia), Peter Guinness (Carl Varon)

Eye Of The Machine Cast: Colin Salmon (Avon), Keeley Hawes (Anna Grant), Geoffrey Palmer (Professor Ensor)

Notes: The plot point of the Tariel Cells – a common element in all Federation/human technology – is carried over from the original Blake’s 7 TV series; in the TV series, Orac was able to obtain information from almost any Federation computer system via a “back door” left for him in the Tariel Cells by their inventor (and Orac’s creator), Ensor. Orac has not yet been introduced to the reimagined Blake’s 7 as of this CD’s release.

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
2000s Series Season 1 V

It’s Only The Beginning

Survivors (1970s series)Anna uses her clout with the media – and, in particular, reporter Chad Decker – to announce that V medical technology will soon be available to humans in clinics everywhere, capable of detecting and curing everything from cancer to heart conditions that haven’t claimed their victims yet. But Erica learns from Ryan Nichols, who has identified himself as a member of a resistance group within the aliens known as the Fifth Column, that the V’s medical knowledge of humans goes much further than that. He promises to lead Erica and Father Landry to a stockpile of an alien drug, R6, that the V plan to introduce to humans everywhere, unannounced, by mixing it with flu shots. But while Erica works with her allies to destroy the stockpile before it can be used, her own son is being lured further into collusion with the aliens by Lisa, and her mother – Anna. And a surprise awaits Ryan when he discovers that his unsuspecting human wife is pregnant with the first human/alien hybrid.

written by Cameron Litvack & Angela Russo Otstot
directed by Yves Simoneau
music by Marco Beltrami

Guest Cast: Christopher Shyer (Marcus), David Richmond-Peck (Georgie), Mark Hildreth (Joshua), Scott Hylands (Father Travis), Ryan Kennedy (David), Craig Fraser (Peter Combs)

Notes: This was the last of four episodes of V to air in 2009 as a special event, as well as the last to be overseen by the original creative team that had developed the show (in large part, the same creative minds behind the series The 4400). New episodes wouldn’t air until March 2010, at which point the series’ revised creative direction was being steered by new executive producer Scott Rosenbaum.

Categories
Rebels Season 1 Star Wars

Gathering Forces

Star Wars: RebelsThe Ghost beats a hasty retreat from Lothal, with the Inquisitor leading Imperial fighters to it. A tracking device is fired toward the Ghost, but instead attaches to its shuttlecraft, the Phantom. Realizing that both the tracker and their sensitivity to the Force are leading the Inquisitor to them, Kanan and Ezra depart in the Phantom to set a trap for their pursuers, a trap that will require Ezra to learn new skills with the Force. But when he finds himself trying to protect the fallen Kanan from the Inquisitor, Ezra takes a step toward the dark side.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Greg Weisman
directed by Steward Lee
music by Kevin Kiner
based on original themes and music by John Williams

RebelsCast: Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Kanan Jarrus), Vanessa Marshall (Hera), Tiya Sircar (Sabine), Steven Blum (Zeb / Alton Kastle / Stormtrooper Commander), Dee Bradley Baker (Admiral Kassius Konstantine), Matthew Wood (Stormtrooper Squad Leader), Jason Isaacs (The Inquisitor), Peter MacNicol (Tseebo)

Notes: The abandoned Clone-War-era asteroid base, and its current population of carnivores, was first visited by Hera and Sabine in Out Of Darkness. Fulcrum is again heard but not seen, and Hera again refuses to introduce other members of the crew to Fulcrum. The fate of Ezra’s parents is revealed in the second season episode Legacy.

LogBook entry by Earl Green