Forty-Five

Doctor Who: Forty-FiveThe Doctor, Ace and Hex arrive just in time to see famed archaeologist Howard Carter unearth one of the more interesting Egyptian tombs he would excavate prior to discovering the tomb of Tutankhamun. But what Carter finds here startles the TARDIS crew: evidence that another time traveler may be nearby, altering the course of human history. A distress call then leads the Doctor and his friends to a remote laboratory where Dr. Verryman is trying to crack a genetic code that could lead to the mental improvement of the human race – whether the human race wants it or not. The code turns out to be a mathematical virus which infects the Doctor’s mind: kill and cure could be the same thing. The TARDIS next lands in England on V-E day, where a man from 1945 has procured alien technology allowing him to control others’ minds. The device has attracted the attention of not only the Doctor, but of the Forge as well, and the consequences hit close to home for both Ace and Hex. At a top secret base in Antarctica in 2012, the time travelers arrive just after a murder that should never have happened with the base’s tight security measures…and of course, this means the Doctor and his companions are now the prime suspects.

Order this CDwritten by Mark Morris (False Gods), Nick Scovell (Order Of Simplicity), Mark Michalowski (Casualties Of War), Steven Hall (The Word Lord)
directed by Ken Bentley
music by Richard Fox and Lauren Yason, Matthew Cochrane, and Steve Foxon

False Gods: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Philip Olivier (Hex), Benedict Cumberbatch (Howard Carter), Lucy Adams (Jane Templeton), Paul Lincoln (Robert Charles), Jon Glover (Creodont), Paul Lincoln (Robot)

Order of Simplicity: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Philip Olivier (Hex), Jon Glover (Dr. Verryman), Lucy Adams (Mrs Crisp), Benedict Cumberbatch (Thing 2), Paul Lincoln (Thing 1)

Casualties of War: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Philip Olivier (Hex), Paul Reynolds (Joey Carlisle), Linda Marlowe (May), Beth Chalmers (Audrey), Beth Chalmers (Miss Merchant), Andrew Dickens (PC Miller)

The Word Lord: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Philip Olivier (Hex), Linda Marlowe (Commander Claire Spencer), Paul Reynolds (Nobody No-One), Andrew Dickens (Captain James Hurst), Paul Lincoln (Private Fenton), Beth Chalmers (System)

Timeline: between The Dark Husband and The Magic Mousetrap

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

The Dust Run / The Trial

Blake's 7: The Early Years - The Dust Run / The TrialThe Dust Run: Having grown up as a “spacer”, young Jenna Stannis considers piloting a spacecraft to be a pastime… and a profession. This brings her into conflict with a fellow hotshot pilot named Townsend, another spacer, who challenges her to the Dust Run: a hazardous race through a dense asteroid belt in which the pilot has no computer assistance. Jenna’s sure that Townsend just wants to get into her pants, but in fact he’s playing for much higher stakes.

The Trial: Jenna is in Federation custody after things go horribly wrong in a violent attempt to force transparency about the government’s overturning of the recent presidential election won by Roj Blake. Worse yet, her interrogator – and legal advocate – is Townsend, someone who she thought she knew… but also thought she knew he was dead. But everything she knew about Townsend was wrong, and Townsend tries to convince her that everything she knew about her own criminal activities was wrong. He convinces her to alter her story before her trial, and by the time her verdict is handed down, everything Jenna thought she knew about everyone may be wrong.

Order this story on CDwritten by Simon Guerrier
directed by Alistair Lock
music by Simon Russell

Cast: Carrie Dobro (Jenna Stannis), Benedict Cumberbatch (Townsend), Stephen Lord (Nick)

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Star Trek Into Darkness

Star Trek MoviesStardate 2259.55: After recklessly risking his ship in a first contact situation where he ends up throwing the Prime Directive to the wind, Captain James T. Kirk is relieved of command and busted down in rank; the Enterprise is reassigned to the command of Admiral Pike and Kirk is demoted to his first officer. Spock is scheduled to be reassigned to another ship as first officer.

After an explosion at a Starfleet facility on Earth is revealed to be the work of a Starfleet officer, the Starfleet admiralty is summoned to an emergency meeting, where it is revealed that the mastermind behind the explosion, Commander John Harrison, is still at large. Top priority is given to finding and eliminating Harrison. But Kirk quickly realizes that Harrison will come to them: a vehicle arrives just outside of Starfleet HQ and begins firing into the conference room. Admiral Pike is killed, and Kirk personally takes down Harrison’s ship, but the mysterious officer escapes, miraculously unharmed, and beams out using the long-range transporter technology invented by Scotty. Kirk tracks Harrison to the Klingon homeworld and requests the reinstatement of his command of the Enterprise. Admiral Marcus agrees, and provides Kirk with a new top secret weapon, long-range photon torpedoes, to carry out a shocking order: take Harrison out on the Klingon planet, even if it starts a war with the Klingons (which Marcus feels is inevitable already).

On the Klingon homeworld, Kirk elects not to use Marcus’ weapons, instead beaming down to personally capture Harrison. A fierce firefight ensues between Kirk’s landing party, Harrison, and the Klingons, but to Kirk’s surprise, Harrison surrenders himself willingly upon learning that the Enterprise has advanced torpedoes trained on his location. Once in custody aboard the Enterprise, he suggests that Kirk open one of the weapons. The torpedoes have built-in safeguards against being opened, but once defused, each torpedo is revealed to have a cryogenically frozen human being inside, each one a specimen of genetically enhanced “superhumans” created to fight in a 21st century conflict. And Harrison isn’t even really Harrison – he is the leader of these enhanced humans, blackmailed into cooperating with a top secret warfare division within Starfleet, which is expecting conflict with the Klingons.

Right on cue, a huge Starfleet ship appears, dwarfing the Enterprise. The U.S.S. Vengeance, commanded by Admiral Marcus (who is, curiously, out of uniform), takes an aggressive position against the Enterprise, and Marcus demands that Kirk surrender “Harrison” and his fellow augmented humans. Kirk refuses Marcus’ order, certain that Starfleet shouldn’t be on a war footing. But can he place any more trust in Harrison, who has already committed acts of mass murder? And can he fight both adversaries without sacrificing the Enterprise and her crew in the process?

Order this movie on DVDscreenplay by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman & Damon Lindelof
directed by J.J. Abrams
music by Michael Giacchino

LogBook entry and review by Earl Green

Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow

Star Trek: ProdigyStardate 1581.2: La’an’s day goes from bad to worse when an unknown intruder suffering from a bullet wound suddenly materializes aboard the Enterprise. He hands her a device and warns her to get to the bridge. A sudden surge of energy seems to put the red alert, and when La’an arrives on the bridge, she finds that the Enterprise is under the command of Captain James T. Kirk of the United Earth Fleet. In private, she explains the sudden shift in reality to him, but when he tries to take the device to inspect it, they both find themselves in 21st cebtury Toronto with no idea why they’ve been brought there.

No sooner have La’an and Kirk sorted out basic matters of inconspicuous clothing, money, food, and lodging than a newly-constructed bridge is brought down by some kind of deliberate sabotage. A quick glimpse of the debris reveals technology that shouldn’t exist on Earth in this time period. A fortuitous meeting with a local enthusiast of conspiracy theories yields surprisingly significant information in the search for those responsible for destroying the bridge. But the woman La’an and Kirk have met is not there by coincidence. As the two travelers from Earth’s future are trying to repair history, their new acquaintance is there to undo it in a way that will have very direct consequences for La’an.

Order DVDswritten by David Reed
directed by Amanda Row
music by Nami Melumad
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds main theme by Jeff Russo

Star Trek: Strange New WorldsCast: Anson Mount (Captain Christopher Pike), Ethan Peck (Lt. Spock), Jess Bush (Nurse Christine Chapel), Christina Chong (Lt. La’an Noonien Singh), Celia Rose Gooding (Ensign Uhura), Melissa Navia (Lt. Erica Ortegas), Babs Olusanmokun (Dr. M’Benga), Rebecca Romijn (Commander Una Chin-Riley), Paul Wesley (Captain James T. Kirk), Adelaide Kane (Sera), Carol Kane (Pelia), Dennis Barham (Chess Player #1), Noah Lamanna (Chief Jay), Caden Lawrence (Security Ensign), David Leyshon (Chess Player #3), Luke Marty (Police Officer), Sean Meldrum (Denobulan Cadet), Brian Quintero (Store Security Guard), Robin Schisler (Woman in store), Randy Singh (Institute Guard #1), Desmond Sivan (Young Khan), Mish Tam (Chess Player #2), Allisan Wilson-Forbes (Agent Ymalay), Christopher Wyllie (Grey-Suited Man)

Star Trek: Strange New WorldsNotes: Pelia was the proprietor of an antigue store in Vermont in the 21st century, but was not yet an engineer; in the 23rd century, Pelia does not appear to remember encountering La’an and Kirk in the past (or at least isn’t saying anything about it if she does, which may be a wiser course of action). The Denobulan involved in the argument in the transporter room is the first live-action Denobulan seen since Dr. Phlox was last glimpsed in the closing scenes of Star Trek: Enterprise (though animated Denobulans have been seen in both Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy). The events in this episode would appear to take place not long after the “Project Khan” folder was glimpsed in Adam Soong’s lab at the end of season two of Star Trek: Picard, so Soong’s aughments either grow at an accelerated rate, or “Project Khan” was already further along than previously implied. The Department of Temporal Investigations – last seen following up on the events of the Deep Space Nine episode Trials And Tribble-ations – seems to have its own time-travel gear and a more directly interventionist stance than implied in that previous appearance; clearly this is the Department from a later period in history, possibly the 27th century in which Starfleet has time travel (Voyager: Relativity). Though it’s less ornate, the Department’s hand-held time travel device shares some distinct functional similarities with the Omni from the 1980s time travel series Voyagers! – namely, that history is still affected, and thus the user is forbidden to leave that time period, as long as the light is red. The fact that the Romulan agent in the 21st century is aware that “entire temporal wars have been fought” indicates she may be a participant in, or an occupant of a time after, Star Trek: Enterprise’s Temporal Cold War. She also mentions that these events were meant to happen in 1992, leaving her trapped on Earth for 30 years trying to prevent them, Star Trek: Strange New Worldsan acknowledgement of Khan’s history having been shifted in the Star Trek timeline from the 1990s (Star Trek: Space Seed) to the 21st century (Deep Space Nine: Doctor Bashir, I Presume). Desmond Sivan becomes only the third actor to portray, in live action, a famed Star Trek character previously played by Ricardo Montalban and Benedict Cumberbatch.

LogBook entry by Earl Green