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Classic Season 09 Doctor Who

The Curse of Peladon

Doctor WhoThe Doctor, with Jo in tow, tries another of his experiments in getting the TARDIS working – and to both of their astonishment, the time machine roars into life and dematerializes, taking the two to the stormy planet of Peladon. On the eve of its admission into the Federation that includes Earth, Peladon receives delegates from Federation member planets Arcturus, Alpha Centauri – and Earth itself, a delegation for which the Doctor and Jo are mistaken. Also present are the Doctor’s old enemies, the Ice Warriors, though the motives for their presence may not be as sinister as the Doctor fears – and yet when both the delegates and the royal house of Peladon come under attack, the Doctor can suspect no one else.

written by Brian Hayles
directed by Lennie Mayne
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Henry Gilbert (Torbis), David Troughton (Peladon), Geoffrey Toone (Hepesh), Gordon St. Clair (Grun), Nick Hobbs (Aggedor), Stuart Fell (Alpha Centauri), Ysanne Churchman (voice of Alpha Centauri), Murphy Grumbar (Arcturus), Terry Bale (voice of Arcturus), Sonny Caldinez (Sworg), Alan Bennion (Izlyr), George Giles (Captain), Wendy Danvers (Amazonia)

Broadcast from January 29 through February 19, 1972

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Season 09 Doctor Who

The Sea Devils

Doctor WhoThe Doctor and Jo pay a visit to the Master, who has been languishing in an isolated top-security prison since he was arrested by U.N.I.T. But in reality, the Master has already gained control of his jailkeepers, and is simply biding his time as he constructs a device that will summon the Sea Devils, a species of bipedal Earth reptiles related to the Silurians, who once walked the Earth before man. The Sea Devils have already been attacking ships at sea, but the Master has promised them the means to revive all of their people and regain their position as the rulers of Earth – even if it means eliminating the human race. As the Doctor tries to intervene, suggesting a peace between man and reptile, he finds himself fighting not only the Master, but the warlike impulses of homo sapiens.

written by Malcolm Hulke
directed by Michael Briant
music by Malcolm Clarke

Guest Cast: Roger Delgado (The Master), Clive Morton (Trenchard), Royston Tickner (Robbins), Edwin Richfield (Hart), Alec Wallis (Bowman), Neil Seiler (Radio Operator), Terry Walsh (Barclay), Brian Justice (Wilson), June Murphy (Jane Blythe), Hugh Futcher (Hickman), Declan Mulholland (Clark), Pat Gorman, Brian Nolan, Steven Ismay, Frank Seton, Jeff Witherick (Sea Devils), Eric Mason (Smedley), Donald Sumpter (Ridgway), Stanley McGeagh (Drew), David Griffin (Mithcell), Christopher Wray (Lovell), Colin Bell (Summers), Brian Vaughn (Watts), Martin Boddey (Walker), Norman Atkyns (Rear Admiral), Rex Rowland (Girton), John Caesar (Myers), Peter Forbes-Robertson (Chief Sea Devil)

Broadcast from February 26 through April 1, 1972

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
1954-75: Showa Series Godzilla

Godzilla vs. Gigan

GodzillaComic book artist Gengo Kotaka is engaged by World Children’s Land to assist in developing a theme park in Japan, featuring a tower shaped like Godzilla. As he reports to work one day, he is nearly knocked over by a woman running out of the building, who is being chased by several men. She drops an audio tape as she dashes off. Inside, he meets the chairman of the Japanese branch of World Children’s Land. The Chairman tells Gengo that the woman is an “enemy of peace.”

Returning home, Gengo is mugged by the woman and one of her cohorts, who demand the tape. They tell Gengo that Children’s Land is the real enemy of peace, based on journals left by Machiko’s missing brother. Gengo accepts their story, and leads them to a locker in which he had hidden the tape. They play back the tape, which emits a strange sound. At the Godzilla tower, the Chairman and his henchmen pick up the sound, the “Action Signal.” It’s also heard by Godzilla and Anguirus at Monster Island. The King of the Monsters dispatches Anguirus to investigate the mysterious sound.

Gengo and his new friends conduct background checks on World Children’s Land and the Chairman, only to find many irregularities. The most surprising is that the Chairman died a year ago. Apparently, the Chairman and the others are taking over the bodies of recently deceased humans. Back at the tower, the Chairman receives a message from Nebula Space Hunter M in preparation of an invasion. He orders the playing of “Action Signal 1.” Just then, Anguirus arrives at a nearby bay. The army swings into action, and is able to turn back the spiked monster.

Snooping around at the Godzilla Tower, Gengo finds Machiko’s brother. He is caught and run off, but followed by the chairman?s henchmen. Gengo, Machiko, and Shosaku are about to be killed, when Gengo’s sister arrives and beats them away. Meanwhile, Godzilla and Anguirus are making their way to Japan. At the same time another Action Signal is played, which calls space monsters Gigan and King Ghidorah. Gigan is a horned bipedal Cyclops-type creature with multiple fins on his back, hooks for hands and a buzzsaw in his abdomen.

Gengo and his sister attempt rescue Machiko’s brother from the Godzilla tower, but are captured by the aliens. One of the Chairman’s henchmen reveals they are the advance force for creatures from Nebula Space Hunter M, which has very nearly been destroyed by pollution. The aliens are in reality the only surviving race of that planet: giant cockroaches. Controlled by the aliens, Ghidorah and Gigan arrive on Earth. The monsters are ordered to attack Tokyo. The pair rip through the city as if it were simply model buildings.

Godzilla and Anguirus arrive. Gigan leaps into the air, but is brought down by a mighty blast of Godzilla?s nuclear breath. Godzilla is, in turn, felled by Ghidorah’s lightning bolts. But both Gigan and the King of the Monsters get up. Ghidorah sets the oil storage tanks afire, and Godzilla pulls Anguirus from the flames. Meanwhile, Machiko and Shosaku mount a rescue mission for their friends in the Godzilla tower. A weather balloon is floated to the imprisoned friends, who escape by sliding down a rope.

The battle between the kaiju continues and is moving closer to the theme park. Godzilla and Ghidorah wrestle while Gigan focuses his attentions on Anguirus. But Gigan leaps into the air toward Godzilla. The space monster uses the buzzsaw in his abdomen and slices a huge gash in Godzilla’s shoulder. Godzilla stumbles in pain into the theme park and is startled to find the tower shaped in his image. As he approaches the tower, the aliens shoot lasers from the tower at the monster, which knocked Godzilla off his feet.

A small task forced lead by Gengo carries explosives into the tower, since the interior is lightly defended. While they do so, the monster battle continues, with Gigan taking a slice out of Anguirus. Moments later, the explosives destroy the tower from inside. As it burns, the aliens revert to their original cockroach shape. The tower explodes, releasing the control the aliens held over space monsters.

Even without direction, Gigan and Ghidorah are able to put the other two monsters on the ropes. Godzilla is able to gather a second wind and manages to subdue Gigan. Ghidorah, which has been watching from the sidelines, is attacked by a rejuvenated Anguirus. The three headed monster however lifts the spiked beast into the air and drops him. Godzilla and Anguirus double-team the other monsters by having Anguirus jump backward onto the golden monster, which then collides into Gigan. Godzilla stomps onto one of the necks of Ghidorah, but the golden creature rolls free. Without leadership and facing the overwhelming force of Godzilla and Anguirus, the two space monsters flee.

screenplay by Shinichi Sekizawa
directed by Jun Fukuda
music by Akira Ifukube

Human Cast: Hiroshi Ishikawa (Gengo Kotaka), Tomoko Umeda (Machiko Shima), Yuriko Hishimi (Tomoko Tomoe), Minoru Takashima (Shosaku Takasugi)

Monster Cast: Godzilla, Gigan, King Ghidorah, Anguirus

Notes: Godzilla speaks! You’ll recall that in Ghidrah, The Three Headed Monster the Fairy Twins translate a discussion between Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra. But here, Godzilla and Anguirus speak in English. The Japanese version reportedly uses comic book type balloons. Originally released in Japan as Earth Attack Command: Godzilla vs. Gigan.

LogBook entry by Robert Parson

Categories
Classic Season 09 Doctor Who

The Mutants

Doctor WhoThe Doctor and Jo are sent on a Time Lord-mandated courier mission, shrouded in secrecy, to the 30th century. His cargo is a small container keyed to the bio-readings of a single being. The TARDIS – temporarily cleared for a single flight to the destination of the Time Lords’ choice – takes them to an Imperial Earth Skybase orbiting the planet Solos, a world whose poisonous atmosphere and proud natives are the only things that have kept the Earth Empire from completely overrunning it. As it turns out, the container the Doctor has brought is intended for Ky, a Solonian national who is on the wrong side of the law, wanted dead or alive by the tyrannical Marshal of the Skybase. Not only is the Doctor fighting the Marshal’s forces from the moment he arrives, but years of the Marshal’s dictatorship have made it unlikely that the Solonians will trust an outsider either – even if the future of their entire species depends on it.

written by Bob Baker & Dave Martin
directed by Christopher Barry
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Paul Whitsun-Jones (Marshal), Geoffrey Palmer (Administrator), Christopher Coll (Stubbs), Rick James (Cotton), James Mellor (Varan), Jonathan Sherwood (Varan’s son), Garrick Hagon (Ky), George Pravda (Jaeger), John Hollis (Sondergaard), Sidney Johnson, David J. Graham (Old Men), Roy Pearce (Solos Guard), David Arlen (Guard Warrior), Damon Sanders, Martin Taylor (Guards), Peter Howell (Investigator)

Broadcast from April 8 through May 13, 1972

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 09 Doctor Who

The Time Monster

Doctor WhoThe Doctor is disturbed by a recent series of dreams whose imagery has included the destruction of the world and the laughing face of the Master. But with no concrete basis for these visions, he ignores them and accompanies Jo as UNIT’s observers to the demonstration of the new TOM-TIT device – standing for Transmission Of Matter Through Interstitial Time. But things go wrong from the start, especially when the Doctor sees that the TOM-TIT research program is actually being run by the Master. The Master demonstrates a mere fraction of TOM-TIT’s potential by snatching soldiers and artillery from World Wars I & II and launching them at UNIT troops. But the Doctor realizes that TOM-TIT’s true power is still largely untapped. The Master plans to capture a Chronovore – a creature which lives outside of the dimension of time and feeds upon temporal energy – harness its power for his continual conquests. The Doctor pursues the Master through time and the lost continent of Atlantis to prevent the Chronovore’s incredible powers from falling into the Master’s hands…but the only way to stop that from happening may be mutual destruction for both Time Lords.

written by Robert Sloman
directed by Paul Bernard
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Roger Delgado (The Master), Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), John Levene (Sergeant Benton), Richard Franklin (Captain Yates), Wanda Moore (Dr. Ingram), Ian Collier (Stuart Hyde), John Wyse (Dr. Percival), Terry Walsh (Window cleaner), Neville Barber (Dr. Cook), Barry Ashton (Proctor), Donald Eccles (Krasis), Keith Dalton (Neophite), Aidan Murphy (Hippias), Marc Boyle (Kronos), George Cormack (Dalios), Gregory Powell (Knight), Simon Legree (Sergeant), Dave Carter (Officer), George Lee (Farmworker), Ingrid Pitt (Galleia), Susan Penhaligon (Lakis), Michael Walker (Miseus), Derek Murcott (Crito), Dave Prowse, Terry Walsh (Minotaur), Melville Jones (Guard), Ingrid Bower (face of Kronos)

Broadcast from May 20 through June 24, 1972

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Movies Planet Of The Apes

Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes

Planet Of The ApesIn the year 1991, seven years after the death of Cornelius and Dr. Zira, apes have gradually attained the beginnings of the sentience displayed by the displaced apes from the future, only to become the slaves of humanity. While the subservient apes are viewed as a convenience by those who don’t want to perform menial tasks, they have relieved many humans of low-paying jobs and a virtual police state has arisen to deal with the resulting security issues among both species. The child of Cornelius and Zira, has been secretly harbored and raised by circus ringmaster Armando. In public, they still pretend to be human master and simian slave, and his ability to speak and read is carefully kept secret; any indication of this kind of intelligence could doom the evolving ape race, as the government still intends to prevent the rise of ape-kind (and the subsequent fall of man) at all costs. Still, it is known that the child of Cornelius and Zira survived the parents’ deaths, and Armando is still suspected of hiding the child years later – and maintains his innocence and ignorance of the accusations. But that changes when Armando’s charge is unable to contain his disgust at the mistreatment of an ape a pro-human-labor demonstration, shouting “Lousy human bastards!” Armando covers for him and is taken into custody for disturbing the peace. Left alone, Armando’s ape is taken in and becomes just another part of the ape slave trade, this time for real. He witnesses first-hand the torturous conditioning to which his fellow apes are subjected, but he keeps his intelligence hidden, even after he is sold at auction to Governor Breck, who has Armando in custody. Breck amuses himself by allowing the ape to name himself by pointing to a random word in a book; the name he picks for himself is Caesar.

Armando isn’t exactly treated gently either, as his interrogation by Breck’s men becomes more brutal. Finally, faced with the authenticator – a lie detector which will reveal that he was covering for Caesar all along – Armando leaps out of a skyscraper window to his death. This is the last straw for Caesar; he has already been organizing a campaign of deliberate disobedience and property destruction. But with Armando’s death, Caesar rallies the ape slave population toward a more violent form of revolt. Caesar himself is captured and tortured, but he has left an impression on a member of Breck’s staff, who helps him fake his own death and escape. Surviving his “execution” at the hands of Breck’s Ape Management bureau gives Caesar’s followers the push they need: the real revolt begins in earnest, and Ape Management is the first agency to fall. An armed response from the governor’s troops only incites more violence, and Caesar leads his brethren into battle. The overwhelmed human police forces are but the first casualties in an all-out massacre; they’re expecting barely-domesticated animals who will scatter at loud noises, not an organized fighting force. But is the last night of humanity’s rule of the Earth simply going to start the countdown to the inevitable end of the apes?

Order the DVDsscreenplay by Paul Dehn
directed by J. Lee Thompson
music by Tom Scott

Cast: Roddy McDowall (Caesar), Don Murray (Breck), Natalie Trundy (Lisa), Hari Rhodes (MacDonald), Ricardo Montalban (Armando), Severn Darden (Kolp), Lou Wagner (Busboy), John Randolph (Commission Chairman), Asa Maynor (Mrs. Riley), H.M. Wynant (Hoskyns), David Chow (Aldo), Buck Kartalian (Frank – Gorilla), John Dennis (Policeman), Paul Comi (2nd Policeman), Gordon Jump (Auctioneer), Dick Spangler (Announcer), Joyce Haber (Zelda), Hector Soucy (Ape with chain)

Notes: After playing human zoologist in Escape From The Planet Of The Apes, Natalie Trundy returns as a different character (in full ape makeup). Where Escape From The Planet Of The Apes had reduced the size of the “ape” cast and rebooted the film series in modern-day settings to save money, Conquest ironically has more extras in full ape makeup than any of the previous Apes films, along with a not-inexpensive “near future” redress of its L.A. locations.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Ace Of Wands Season 3

The Meddlers – Part 1

Ace Of WandsTarot visits a run-down street market, learning that unlucky accidents have been befalling the merchants there – a grocer whose goods go rotten, a bookseller whose cart catches on fire, and so on. A trio of wandering street musicians draw Tarot’s attention as well, particularly the somewhat threatening attitude of their spoon player. Tarot meets a photographer named Chas and his sister Mikki, discovering that he has a psychic link to Mikki similar to that which he once shared with Luli. Realizing that the stakes are becoming deadly, Tarot decides to stay and help revitalize that market, only to discover that someone doesn’t want his help…and intends to send that message forcefully.

written by P.J. Hammond
directed by John Russell
music by Andrew Bown

Ace Of WandsCast: Michael Mackenzie (Tarot), Petra Markham (Mikki), Roy Holder (Chas), Michael Standing (Spoon), Barry Linehan (Mockers), Paul Dawkins (Dove), Stefan Kalipha (Drum), Honora Burke (Madge), Neil Linden (Accordion Player)

Notes: This is the premiere of Ace Of Wands’ third season, the only season of the show left intact by ITV’s policy of erasing and reusing then-expensive videotape in the 1970s. While Doctor Who fans may feel Ace Of Wandsunlucky that so many 1960s episodes of that series are missing, Ace Of Wands was produced much more recently, and none of its first two seasons’ episodes now exist in the archives. Involving a crime-solving stage magician with mystic powers and ESP, the series introduced new characters in this episode, replacing the departed Roy (Tony Selby) and Luli (Judy Loe), who had been Tarot’s accomplices in the first two years of the show.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Ace Of Wands Season 3

The Meddlers – Part 2

Ace Of WandsTarot narrowly avoids serious injury, and recognizes the runaway horse for the warning that it represents…but this only makes him more determined to find out what’s happening to the street merchants. Tarot’s car has also been moved without his knowledge, but Chas is able to find it thanks to his local knowledge, and retrieves Tarot’s owl, Ozymandias, from the car. Tarot and Mikki talk to one of the merchants who is packing out her store, but as soon as the woman mentions that her stall space has been bought out by a Mr. Dove, the street musicians appear yet again, again with violence in mind for Tarot.

written by P.J. Hammond
directed by John Russell
music by Andrew Bown

Ace Of WandsCast: Michael Mackenzie (Tarot), Petra Markham (Mikki), Roy Holder (Chas), Michael Standing (Spoon), Barry Linehan (Mockers), Honora Burke (Madge), Paul Dawkins (Dove), Norma West (Chauffeuse), Stefan Kalipha (Drum), Neil Linden (Accordion Player), and Fred Owl (Ozymandias)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Ace Of Wands Season 3

The Meddlers – Part 3

Ace Of WandsTarot and Mikki notice that Chas hasn’t returned home, and begin looking for him. Along the way, Tarot pays a visit to Mr. Dove, trying to size up the man who is buying the street merchants out of their stall spaces, and trying to figure out why. In the meantime, Chas has found Mr. Dove’s competition, a discovery that puts him in danger until Tarot and Mikki find and free him. The fight to empty the street market centers around a literal buried treasure – but if Tarot is right, it’s not worth any of the trouble.

written by P.J. Hammond
directed by John Russell
music by Andrew Bown

Ace Of WandsCast: Michael Mackenzie (Tarot), Roy Holder (Chas), Petra Markham (Mikki), Michael Standing (Spoon), Barry Linehan (Mockers), Paul Dawkins (Dove), Norma West (Chauffeuse), Stefan Kalipha (Drum), Neil Linden (Accordion Player), and Fred Owl (Ozymandias)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Ace Of Wands Season 3

The Power Of Atep – Part 1

Ace Of WandsTarot and Mikki both have the same dream, involving a ritual taking place in an Egyptian tomb…and a mummified corpse that suddenly appears to have Tarot’s head. A call from Tarot’s old friend, Mr. Sweet, brings bad news that seems even more menacing in this light: Egyptian artifacts related to the mythical figure Atep, who was said to be steeped in his own powerful magic. Tarot and Mikki each follow their own leads, but Tarot must eventually resume his preparations for his next death defying stunt. Mikki finds herself in a psychic summoning circle whose participants call upon to power of Atep to ensure that Tarot can defy death no more.

written by Victor Pemberton
directed by Nicholas Ferguson
music by Andrew Bown

Cast: Michael Mackenzie (Tarot), Roy Holder (Chas), Petra Ace Of WandsMarkham (Mikki), Sebastian Graham-Jones (John Pentacle), Donald Layne-Smith (Mr. Sweet), Michael Mulcaster (High Priest), Frederick Beauman (Worshipper), Margot Field (Worshipper), Catherine Brandon (Worshipper), and Fred Owl (Ozymandias)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Ace Of Wands Season 3

The Power Of Atep – Part 2

Ace Of WandsWhen Tarot fails to surface while practicing a stunt involving breaking free of a straitjacket underwater, Chas leaps to his rescue and drags Tarot back to safety. Mikki breaks from her trance-like state in the psychic circle, revealing that her allegiances are to Tarot rather than Atep; when she, Tarot, Chas and Mr. Sweet go to visit the house where the ritual took place, there’s no evidence that anyone was ever there. Worse yet, Mr. Sweet discovers that the obscure book, “The Power of Atep”, has been stolen. All clues seem to point to Egypt, in the Valley of the Pharaohs, and Chas and Mikki convince Tarot that he must go there. John Pentacle, the leader of the sinister psychic ritual, knows that Tarot will go to Egypt as well…and he will be waiting.

written by Victor Pemberton
directed by Nicholas Ferguson
music by Andrew Bown

Cast: Michael Mackenzie (Tarot), Roy Holder (Chas), Petra Ace Of WandsMarkham (Mikki), Sebastian Graham-Jones (John Pentacle), Donald Layne-Smith (Mr. Sweet), Michael Mulcaster (High Priest), Frederick Beauman (Worshipper), Margot Field (Worshipper), Catherine Brandon (Worshipper), Michael Rose (Tramp), and Fred Owl (Ozymandias)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Ace Of Wands Season 3

The Power Of Atep – Part 3

Ace Of WandsTarot begins to wonder if his former partner, a fellow stage magician, has a hand in the disappearance of the Atep’s mummy from the British museum, as the unusual theft has some of the hallmarks of an act that they once performed together. Before they arrive in Egypt, Mr. Sweet arranges for Tarot, Mikki and Chas to meet Fergus, the Egyptologist who opened Atep’s tomb and can lead them back to it. Mikki and Tarot both instantly recognize the tomb from their shared nightmares. When Chas takes a photograph in the tomb, Fergus forbids further pictures, but once the travelers are on their own and Chas develops the one photo he took, Mikki spots the man she knows as John Pentacle – a man Tarot recognizes as his former stage partner. But as Fergus finds out not long afterward, John Pentacle has an uncanny talent for looking and sounding exactly like Tarot…a talent that could put Tarot himself in deadly danger.

written by Victor Pemberton
directed by Nicholas Ferguson
music by Andrew Bown

Ace Of WandsCast: Michael McKenzie (Tarot), Roy Holder (Chas), Petra Markham (Mikki), Sebastian Graham-Jones (John Pentacle), Joe Dunlop (Fergus Wilson), Lynval May (Arab Boy), and Fred Owl (Ozymandias)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Ace Of Wands Season 3

The Power Of Atep – Part 4

Ace Of WandsTrapped in the tomb of Atep with his vengeful former stage partner, Tarot is told that he will have to survive a magical duel with Atep, who was himself a skilled magician serving the Pharaohs of Egypt. Tarot wants no part of it, but he has little choice, and expects very little competition from a dead man, only to be surprised when at least some of the tales of Atep’s magical prowess prove to be true. Mikki and Chas strong-arm Fergus into taking them to Atep’s tomb to help Tarot, only to find that Fergus has been in league with the worshippers of Atep all along. Will Tarot have to endure the increasingly deadly duel with Atep alone?

written by Victor Pemberton
directed by Nicholas Ferguson
music by Andrew Bown

Ace Of WandsCast: Michael McKenzie (Tarot), Roy Holder (Chas), Petra Markham (Mikki), Sebastian Graham-Jones (John Pentacle), Joe Dunlop (Fergus Wilson), and Fred Owl (Ozymandias)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Ace Of Wands Season 3

Peacock Pie – Part 1

Ace Of WandsMikki bumps into an ordinary-looking man after nearly being knocked to the ground by armed security guards at a bank. The man tells her that she needs a holiday, and in her mind Mikki sees a remote seaside location. When she next sees Tarot and Chas, Mikki announces that she needs a holiday, a declaration that surprises them. She also describes, briefly, her encounter with the nondescript man, as well as the mental image she picked up from him, which worries Tarot. When they learn the next day that the very bank Mikki visited has been robbed of £40,000, Tarot becomes more convinced that the man she met is involved, and the three set out to investigate. But Mr. Peacock doesn’t want to be investigated, nor does he want to be bothered – and he can overcome even Tarot’s mind to ensure that he’s left alone.

written by P.J. Hammond
directed by John Russell
music by Andrew Bown

Cast: Michael MacKenzie (Tarot), Roy Holder (Chas), Petra Ace Of WandsMarkham (Mikki), Brian Wilde (Mr. Peacock), Dorothy Frere (Mrs. MacFadyean), Jenny McCracken (young Mrs. MacFadyean), and Fred Owl (Ozymandias)

Notes: Chas mentions that Mikki “just has a holiday in Egypt”, a reference to the events of the previous four-part story, The Power Of Atep. A fixture on British TV since the early 1950s, Brian Wilde (1927-2008) has guest starred on such genre fare as The Avengers, Out Of The Unknown, and an episode of Doomwatch that ultimately went unbroadcast; he’s probably best known for playing Foggy in Last Of The Summer Wine. Peter “P.J.” Hammond counts Ace Of Wandsthe (sadly now lost) 1971 Ace Of Wands three-parter Joker as one of his early screenwriting credits; he would also write the script for the series’ final story before resume a “guest writer” career that included the likes of Z Cars, Couples, The Sweeny, Dixon Of Dock Green, Eastenders, Space Island One and Torchwood; he submitted several story outlines (and even some scripts) for the 23rd season of Doctor Who, all of which were left on the cutting room floor (and, later, in the recording studios of audio drama makers Big Finish Productions) when that season was delayed and reworked from the ground up, resulting in The Trial Of A Time Lord. Hammond may be best known for his own creation, the 1979-82 ITV series Sapphire & Steel.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Gatchaman I

Gatchaman vs. Turtle King

Kagaku Ninjatai GatchamanAn enormous mechanical turtle rises from the ocean, attacking a uranium storage facility and stealing the radioactive material stored there. At a meeting of heads of state, Dr. Nambu of the International Science Organization reveals the identity of the culprit: the evil Galactor organization, bent on world domination. But it took the best intelligence agents in the world to discover even that morsel of information, so Nambu has assembled a team of young fighters and scientists to track down Galactor: Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. Each armed with incredible powers and specialized vehicles, these young warriors are all that stand between Galactor and control of the entire Earth. Aboard their powerful aircraft, the GodPhoenix, the team is dispatched to observe the huge machine without interfering, in the hopes that it can be tracked back to Galactor’s base. Team leader Ken intends to stick to Dr. Nambu’s orders, but his hot-headed second-in-command, Joe, is enraged by the huge loss of life that he is forced to helplessly watch during this surveillance mission. Joe intends to destroy the machine – alone if he has to, whether it contravenes his orders or not.

written by Jinzo Toriumi
directed by Hisayuki Toriumi
music by Bob Sakuma

Voice Cast: Katsuji Mori (Ken Washio), Isao Sasaki (Joe Asakura), Kazuko Sugiyama (Jun), Yoku Shioya (Jinpei), Shingo Kanemoto (Ryu), Toru Ohira (Dr. Kozaburo Nambu), Mikio Terashima (Berg Katse), Nobuo Tanaka (Sosai X), Teiji Omiya (Director Anderson)

Note: This synopsis is for the original Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman episode, and appears under its original Japanese premiere date. For the corresponding episode of Battle Of The Planets, click here.

GatchamanNot really a proper “origin” story for Gatchaman, this premiere episode raises some interesting questions. It seems that no one but Nambu is aware of Galactor’s existence until he reveals that information. It’s possible that seemingly random terrorist attacks had been carried out prior to these events, but no one had attributed them to a single group. In any case, given that the Science Ninja Team has practically been raised to fight Galactor, it seems likely that Dr. Nambu has been sitting on this information for quite some time. The plot setup of this and other early episodes owes a lot to Godzilla – with just a dash of James Bond in the mad scheme to steal uranium – but the characters and their relationships would take center stage in later episodes (but not at the expense of the mayhem and destruction which Tatsunoko Studios’ animators were so adept at depicting). Near the episode’s end, during the destruction of the Turtle King, an obviously non-animated, live-action scene of colorful smoke is seen for a few seconds.

LogBook entry by Earl Green