Search Results for: Stephen Kandel

True Or False Face

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BatmanThe theft of foreign crown jewels from beneath the noses of Commissioner Gordon and Chief O’Hara signal the return of masked criminal mastermind False Face, who just as quickly gives Gotham’s finest the slip. Batman and Robin are summoned to ponder False Face’s latest cryptic clue, deducing that an armored car will be his next target, but it’s too late – False Face is already impersonating one of the truck’s guards, and escapes the hatch the next part of his scheme by kidnapping impersonating Chief O’Hara.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Stephen Kandel
directed by William Graham
music by Nelson Riddle / Batman theme by Neal Hefti

BatmanCast: Adam West (Batman), Burt Ward (Robin), Alan Napier (Alfred), Neil Hamilton (Commissioner Gordon), Stafford Repp (Chief O’Hara), Madge Blake (Mrs. Cooper), Malachi Throne (False Face), Myrna Fahey (Blaze), Billy Curtis (Midget), Joe Brooks (Fat Man), Chuck Fox (Thin Man), S. John Launder (Mr. Ladd), Patrick White (Curator)

Notes: Holy Star Trek personnel crossover, Batman! Writer Stephen Kandel was the creator of Harry Mudd, the original Star Trek‘s sole Batmanrecurring adversary, though he had already completed his work on the early Trek episode Mudd’s Women by the time this episode of Batman premiered. Special guest star Malachi Throne – credited simply as “?” here – was a fixture of 1960s and ’70s TV, and of genre TV in general, appearing in both Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as Ark II and Babylon 5.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Holy Rat Race

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BatmanWith Chief O’Hara in his clutches and the Caped Crusaders tied to the tracks in the path of an oncoming train, it seems that False Face has engineered the downfall of the Dynamic Duo. But a betrayal within the ranks of his hangers-on results in an about-face for Batman’s fortunes. Can someone as utterly scrupulous as Batman beat False Face at his own game of planting traps within traps?

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Stephen Kandel
directed by William Graham
music by Nelson Riddle / Batman theme by Neal Hefti

BatmanCast: Adam West (Batman), Burt Ward (Robin), Alan Napier (Alfred), Neil Hamilton (Commissioner Gordon), Stafford Repp (Chief O’Hara), Madge Blake (Mrs. Cooper), Malachi Throne (False Face), Myrna Fahey (Blaze), Billy Curtis (Midget), Joe Brooks (Fat Man), Chuck Fox (Thin Man), Gary Owens (TV Announcer), Mike Ragan (Cowboy)

Notes: Yes, that is the true face of famed radio and television announcer Gary BatmanOwens (1934-2016). Guest star Mike Ragan (1916-1995) began appearing in westerns about as soon as Hollywood started making them, with his first such credit in 1947’s Buffalo Bill Rides Again; his enormous list of TV credits includes The Adventures Of Wild Bill Hickok, The Roy Rogers Show, The Gene Autry Show, The Lone Ranger, Cheyenne, Wagon Train, The Life And Legend Of Wyatt Earp, Rawhide, and a dozen separate appearances on Bonanza. It is not until the end credits of this episode that Malachi Throne is credited with playing False Face.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Mudd’s Women

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Star Trek ClassicStardate 1329.1: After stealing a freighter and pushing its engines to their limits in an effort to escape the pursuing Enterprise, Harry Mudd and his cargo – three seemingly irresistable women – are recovered. Although Mudd can’t help but be suspicious, the women follow his instructions to cripple the Enterprise without any questions from the male members of the crew. The dilithium crystals powering the ship are sabotaged, and Mudd intends to force Kirk to bargain for his crew’s life when the Enterprise arrives at a dilithium mining outpost.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxteleplay by Stephen Kandel
story by Gene Roddenberry
directed by Harvey Hart
music by Fred Steiner

Star TrekCast: William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), Roger C. Carmel (Harry Mudd), Karen Steele (Eve), DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy), Maggie Thrett (Ruth), Susan Denberg (Magda), James Doohan (Scott), George Takei (Sulu), Jim Goodwin (Farrell), Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), Gene Dynarski (Ben), Jon Kowal (Herm), Seamon Glass (Benton), Jerry Foxworth (Guard)

Notes: Guest star Gene Dynarski would rack up another Trek role (Krodak in The Mark Of Gideon) before the end of the original series, and later guest starred in Star Trek: The Next Generation as a Starbase commander overseeing repairs and upgrades to Picard’s Enterprise (11001001, 1988). He also had guest roles in the 1960s Batman series, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, Land Of Giants, and The X-Files, as well as an appearance in Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

I, Mudd

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Star Trek ClassicStardate 4513.3: The Enterprise is taken over by Crewman Norman, who turns out to be an android in disguise. He sets the ship on a course back to his home world, a planet populated entirely by androids – and one Harry Mudd, trapped there after a crash-landing. The androids plan to move out beyond their own planet to populate the galaxy with more of their logical, efficient kind, and the Enterprise is their chosen means of transport. Kirk, although understandably suspicious of Harry, must now cooperate with the con-man if the android invasion is to be stopped. And the greatest weapon at the disposal of Kirk, his crew, and Harry is total illogic.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Stephen Kandel
directed by Marc Daniels
music by Samuel Matlovsky

Cast: William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), DeForest Kelley (Dr. Leonard McCoy), James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Roger C. Carmel (Harry Mudd), Richard Tatro (Norman), Alice Andrece (Alice #1 through #250), Rhae Andrece (Alice #251 through #500), Kay Elliot (Stella Mudd), Mike Howden (Lt. Rowe), Michael Zaslow (Jordan)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Mudd’s Passion

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Star Trek ClassicStardate 4978.5: Upon receiving word that interplanetary con man Harry Mudd is up to his old tricks, swindling settlers in the Arcadian star system, the Enterprise crew tracks down Mudd, and Kirk and Spock beam down to arrest him (exposing Mudd’s deceptions to the easily-angered natives in the process). Once again, Mudd is peddling an illegal drug, this time a substance which can supposedly make one irresistible to the opposite sex. Picking up on Nurse Chapel’s affection for Spock, Mudd gives her a sample of his drug and suggests she use it to analyze its properties. Using this as a distraction, Mudd also manages to escape from the brig. When the drug initially fails to work, Chapel hunts Mudd down, inadvertently becoming his hostage when he grabs her and steals a shuttle to escape from the Enterprise. To ensure his escape, Mudd has also added his drug to the ship’s air circulation system, leaving the crew in far too friendly a mood to worry about one criminal.

Order the DVDswritten by Stephen Kandel
directed by Hal Sutherland
music by Yvette Blais & Jeff Michael

Cast: William Shatner (Captain Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy), James Doohan (Mr. Scott / Lt. Arrex), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel / Lt. M’ress / Mudd’s decoy), Roger C. Carmel (Harry Mudd)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Terratin Incident

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Star Trek ClassicStardate 5577.3: The Enterprise receives a distress signal from the solitary planet in the Cepheus system, where no life has previously been known to exist. As the crew tries to respond to the distress signal, they are suddenly paralyzed by a powerful energy discharge, which also critically damages the Enterprise’s engines, stranding them in orbit. To make matters worse, the crew is now shrinking in size, presumably a side effect of the blast of energy. Kirk suspects that whoever is sending the distress signal is responsible for the gradual miniaturization of his crew.

Order the DVDswritten by Stephen Kandel
directed by Hal Sutherland
music by Yvette Blais & Jeff Michael

Cast: William Shatner (Captain Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy), James Doohan (Mr. Scott / Lt. Arrex / Mendant), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel / Lt. M’ress)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Jihad

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Star Trek ClassicStardate 5683.1: A number of races’ ships have gathered around an asteroid inhabited by the Vedala, believed to be the oldest spacefaring species in existence. The Vedala have summoned numerous creatures for their intellect and physical strength, claiming that the galaxy’s future is imperiled unless those gathered can help the Vedala find a lost relic whose disappearance could spark a holy war among their own immensely powerful people – a war which would also quickly engulf the other races. But en route to the object of the motley group’s quest, Kirk believes that one of them is hoping to use the relic to hasten the war rather than prevent it.

Order the DVDswritten by Stephen Kandel
directed by Hal Sutherland
music by Yvette Blais & Jeff Michael

Cast: William Shatner (Captain Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy), James Doohan (Mr. Scott / Lt. Arrex / Tchar / Sord), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura / Lara), Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel / Lt. M’ress)

Judgment From Outer Space – Part 1

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Wonder WomanA UFO lands just outside of Washington, bearing Andros, a visitor from a peaceful league of alien worlds. As humans grows closer to the secret of splitting the atom and taking its first steps into space, these other worlds are becoming uneasy that the people of Earth will export war to the rest of space. Andros has been sent to survey Earth to see if the human race is worthy of survival, and he’s not impressed with the welcome he receives from Washington. A Nazi spy posing as a Swedish reporter alerts the Axis to Andros’ presence, and capturing him – and harnessing his power over such natural forces as weather – becomes a top priority. Andros has found a kindred spirit in Wonder Woman, who is also an outsider in human society, but when he is kidnapped by the Nazis, she may be powerless to convince Andros’ people not to destroy Earth.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Stephen Kandel
directed by Alan Crosland
music by Artie Kane

Wonder WomanCast: Lynda Carter (Diana Prince / Wonder Woman), Lyle Waggoner (Major Steve Trevor), Richard Eastham (General Blankenship), Beatrice Colen (Etta Candy), Tim O’Connor (Andros), Kurt Kaszner (General Von Dreiberg), Janet MacLachlan (Sakri), Scott Hylands (Paul Bjornsen), Archie Johnson (General Zachary Kane), Vic Perrin (Gorel), Patrick Skelton (Gormsby), Fil Formicola (Sergeant)

Wonder WomanNotes: Written by Stephen Kandel (who brought the character of Harry Mudd to classic Star Trek), this two-parter is top-heavy with science fiction royalty. Tim O’Connor had already appeared in The Outer Limits, The Twilight Zone, and Search, but was still two years away from his signature genre role as Dr. Huer in Buck Rogers In The 25th Century. Vic Perrin could be heard in every episode of The Outer Limits as the control voice instructing viewers not to adjust their televisions. Janet MacLachlan guest starred in the original Star Trek and The Six Million Dollar Man. Scott Hylands appeared in Earth II and Project UFO, and would go on to guest star on The X-Files before landing a regular role in the 21st century reboot of V.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Judgment From Outer Space – Part 2

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Wonder WomanAndros is in the hands of Nazi agents who take him across the Atlantic to Germany. Major Trevor is assigned to join up with an RAF unit in England to launch a rescue mission, while Wonder Woman speeds across the ocean in her invisible jet. She is the first to try to mount a rescue, but finds Andros uncooperative, apparently not convinced that the Nazis are in the wrong since he has been treated well. It’s only when the Nazis promise to unleash their cruelty upon Wonder Woman that Andros learns of their true nature. Major Trevor is captured before he can attempt a rescue, and Wonder Woman is already in captivity. Now the only help can come from Andros and his people…assuming they haven’t already decided to destroy this primitive, savage world.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Stephen Kandel
directed by Alan Crosland
music by Artie Kane

Wonder WomanCast: Lynda Carter (Diana Prince / Wonder Woman), Lyle Waggoner (Major Steve Trevor), Richard Eastham (General Blankenship), Beatrice Colen (Etta Candy), Tim O’Connor (Andros), Kurt Kaszner (General Von Dreiberg), Janet MacLachlan (Sakri), Scott Hylands (Paul Bjornsen), Vic Perrin (Gorel), Hank Brandt (Graebner), Christiane Schmidtner (Lisa Engel), George Cooper (Gen. Clewes), Erik Holland (Nazi Grau), Ted Roter (Berghoff)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Return Of Wonder Woman

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Wonder WomanAmerican intelligence agent Steve Trevor convenes an airborne meeting of top nuclear experts to discuss the threat of a reclusive madman gaining access to atomic technology. As it turns out, that madman is already aware of the meeting, and has placed one of his own men aboard to take over. An anesthetic gas is released aboard the plane, knocking nearly everyone out instantly; Trevor manages to pull the saboteur’s gas mask off, meaning that no one is left awake aboard the plane, which goes down near the Bermuda Triangle…on Paradise Island.

Having returned to Paradise Island after World War II, Diana hasn’t aged a day, despite the fact that more than thirty years have passed since the war. Diana is stunned to see Trevor – who bears a strong resemblance to his father, the late Major Steve Trevor – and the truth of what happened aboard the plane is quickly discovered. With the freedom and safety of the world once again at stake, Diana elects to leave her fellow Amazons and return to America, again assuming the identity of Diana Prince and setting herself up as Steve Trevor’s assistant. And almost as soon as Diana is back in the United States, she has to become her alter ego, Wonder Woman, to defeat agents of the mad genius who tried to wreck Trevor’s original mission. With spies everywhere, Dr. Solano is now aware of Wonder Woman, and decides to turn his nuclear and robotic expertise toward setting a trap with an adversary that can defeat her once and for all.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Stephen Kandel
directed by Alan Crosland
music by Artie Kane

Wonder WomanCast: Lynda Carter (Diana Prince / Wonder Woman), Lyle Waggoner (Steve Trevor), Normann Burton (Joe Atkinson), Fritz Weaver (Dr. Solano), Bettye Ackerman (Asclepia), Jessica Walter (Gloria), Beatrice Straight (The Queen), David Knapp (Major Gaines), Carlos Romero (Colonel Acevo), Dorrie Thomson (Evadne), Argentina Brunetti (Manageress), Edward Cross (Pilot), Johana DeWinter (Dr. Ross), George Ives (Samuels), Frank Killmond (Logan), Russ Marin (Kleist), William Tregoe (Kalten), Raye Sheffield (Dr. Andrea)

Notes: Effectively a re-piloting of Wonder Woman for its new network home on CBS, this episode does acknowledge the first season with a couple of Wonder Womanvery brief clips of the WWII-era Steve Trevor, but other than that could be watched cold by a new viewer. The title of the series is amended to “The New Adventures of Wonder Woman”, with the lyrics of the theme song changed to remove references specific to the first season, though the vocal version of that song was now on borrowed time and would be dropped by the end of 1977, along with the “comics panels” opening credits.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Naked Montague

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Man From AtlantisAfter placing a seismic sensor on the ocean floor, Mark returns to the Cetacean, warning that the sea life is scattering: a sign that a huge earthquake is about to strike. Mark returns to the water to investigate the resulting new rift in the seafloor, only to be trapped by a rockslide. He awakens on dry land, and meets a man named Romeo, who is embroiled in a conflict with the family of the girl he intends to marry. Anyone else from the Cetacean would know how this struggle will play out, but Mark doesn’t…and perhaps Shakespeare got it all wrong.

written by Stephen Kandel
directed by Robert Douglas
music by Fred Karlin

Man From AtlantisCast: Patrick Duffy (Mark Harris), Belinda J. Montgomery (Dr. Elizabeth Merrill), Alan Fudge (C.W. Crawford), Lisa Eilbacher (Juliet), John Shea (Romeo), Ahna Capri (Cordelia), Norman Snow (Tybalt), Lewis Arquette (Friar Laurence), Scott Porter (Mercutio), William Glover (Guard), David Gautreaux (Guard), Richard Laurance Williams (Jomo), J. Victor Lopez (Chuey), Jean Marie Hon (Jane), Anson Downes (Allen)

Man From AtlantisNotes: Writer Stephen Kandel, a veteran of dozens of ’60s and ’70s TV scripts (including all of Harry Mudd’s appearances on the original Star Trek), might have given Shakespeare a co-writing credit here. John Shea would later gain some genre fame for appearing as Lex Luthor in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman, while Norman Snow would menace the universe as The Last Starfighter‘s arch-nemesis, Xur, before guest starring on such series as Quantum Leap and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Ahna Capri (1944-2010) was already a veteran of TV guest appearances, including I Spy, The Man From UNCLE, and had perhaps made her greatest impression as Tania in Bruce Lee’s Enter The Dragon (1973). Actor David Gautreaux’s greatest claim to genre fame is a role that never made it to the screen: he was cast, earlier in 1977, as Lt. Commander Xon, a full-blooded Vulcan science officer intended to replace Spock in a TV revival of Star Trek, but that series was cancelled before an episode was ever shot, and its pilot script was rewritten to become Star Trek: The Motion Picture, a 1979 movie in which Gautreaux was given what amounted to a bit part as the commander of a doomed space station.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

C.W. Hyde

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Man From AtlantisA substance recently retrieved from the ocean floor is stored at the Institute, with Mark and Dr. Merrill warning that it could have psychotropic effects, altering (at least temporarily) the personality of anyone who comes into contact with it, and that there may be physical manifestations of contact with the substance as well. C.W. accidentally comes into contact with it, and becomes more hirsute and less reserved, treating himself to a night on the town and bedding the consort of a mob boss. When C.W. awakens, the transformation has reversed…and he has suddenly drawn himself, his work, and the entire Institute to the attention of a crime lord.

written by Stephen Kandel
directed by Dann Cahn
music by Fred Karlin

Man From AtlantisCast: Patrick Duffy (Mark Harris), Belinda J. Montgomery (Dr. Elizabeth Merrill), Alan Fudge (C.W. Crawford), Michele Carey (Belle), Val Avery (Lew), Pamela Peters Solow (Sarah), Michael Alaimo (Henchman), Frank Bonner (Bartender), Ralph Mauro (Henchman), Garrett Craig (Henchman), Nancy Dalziel (Patron), Ed Penny (Patron), Richard Laurance Williams (Jomo), J. Victor Lopez (Chuey), Jean Marie Hon (Jane)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Green Girl

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SupertrainHarry is less than enthusiastic about a televised, high-stakes international poker tournament to be held aboard Supertrain, but he’s at least relieved that Wayne is the one who has to keep the high-rollers happy. With a $100,000 buy-in, only the five best poker players in the world can even afford to ante up…and one of them doesn’t make it to the station in time to meet the train, replaced instead by a woman who claims to have won that player’s invitation by beating him at poker. Wayne is immediately smitten with the unexpected substitute player, but his personal feelings become a liability when it’s discovered that hundreds of thousands of dollars in the game’s pot of cash has been swapped out with counterfeit bills, leaving the unexpected new arrival at the poker table as the only real suspect.

written by Stephen Kandel
directed by Cliff Bole
music by Bob Cobert

SupertrainCast: Edward Andrews (Harry Flood), Ilene Graff (Penny Whitaker), Harrison Page (George Boone), Robert Alda (Dr. Lewis), Joey Aresco (Wayne Randall), Rebecca Balding (Ellen Bradford), David Huddleston (Duke Burnside), Henry Jones (James Malinson), Clyde Kusatsu (Shimaju Fukuda), Cleavon Little (Preacher Ross), Roddy McDowall (Talcott), Chip Fields (Preacher’s Lady), Maggie Jean Smith (Talcott’s Entourage), Laura Grayson (Talcott’s Entourage), Leigh Walsh (Talcott’s Entourage), Ross Bickell (Milburn)

SupertrainNotes: Wayne says that conductor Harry Flood has ascended to the position of CEO of Supertrain (apparently he’s taken over from Winfield Root sometime since episode one); Boone worked at a bank for three years prior to his stint on Supertrain. This episode is another smorgasbord of ’70s TV royalty, with Chip Fields (from The Amazing Spider-Man) scouting out Supertrain ahead of her Spider-Man co-star Nicholas Hammond’s appearance the following week, and no less than Roddy McDowall (Planet Of The Apes, The Fantastic Journey) putting in a guest shot. (Since Robert Alda is already a regular, this series is a John Saxon guest shot away from peak ’70s TV.) Director Cliff Bole (1937–2014) was early in his very busy career here, having already helmed 11 episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man, one episode of The Amazing Spider-Man, and numerous installments of Charlie’s Angels, Baretta, and BJ And The Bear. He would go on to rack up two dozen directing credits on Fantasy Island, as well as episodes of V, T.J. Hooker, MacGyver, Star Trek: The Next Generation (including the fan-favorite two-parter The Best Of Both Worlds), Star Trek spinoffs Deep Space Nine and Voyager, The X-Files, M.A.N.T.I.S., Millennium, Harsh Realm, and Supernatural. And, of course, Supertrain!

LogBook entry by Earl Green