Burning Bright
Two weeks after returning to Earth from a mission during which he conducted a spacewalk and began acting strangely, astronaut Josh Lang is on the verge of being grounded, which would end his space career. NASA contacts Lang’s old friend (and former fellow astronaut) Steve Austin to see if he can get through to Lang, understand what’s happened to him, or why Lang keeps talking to someone named Andy. Lang confesses to Austin that he came into contact with some kind of electrical field that boosted his mental abilities exponentially, and that he can even talk to dolphins telepathically. But when he’s sedated and confined for further study, Lang reveals another side to his new abilities, including the power to attack people with the power of his mind, knocking them unconscious without a physical blow. Lang goes on the run from NASA and military police, and Austin insists on trying to reach his old friend to convince him to stop fleeing. In the meantime, Lang’s powers are growing, at the cost of his survival.
written by Del Reisman
directed by Jerry London
music by Oliver Nelson
Cast: Lee Majors (Steve Austin), Richard Anderson (Oscar Goldman), William Shatner (Josh Lang), Warren Kemmerling (Ted), Quinn Redeker (Calvin Billings), Rodolfo Hoyos (Ernesto Arruza), Anne Schedeen (Tina Larsen), Joseph diReda (1st Deputy), Ron Stokes (2nd M.P.), Aaron Mitchell (2nd Deputy), Charles Floyd Johnson (3rd M.P.), Trent Dolan (Technician), Mary Rings (Millie)
Notes: Clips of Steve Austin running (from the pilot movie) and pole-vaulting (from last week’s episode) are reused, though the footage from The Last Of The Fourth Of Julys creates a bit of a jump-cut error, as Oscar is seen standing alongside the huddled NASA scientists watching Austin, and is then instantly seen standing away from them, near the crossbar Austin is trying to clear. The spacewalk footage from the opening teaser is instantly recognizable as footage of Ed White conducting the first American
spacewalk during the Gemini 4 mission in June 1965, even though much more recent spacewalk footage was available and had been used in previous episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man. Oscar protests Austin wanting to run “two whole” computer searches for him on the grounds that “it’ll cost a fortune”. Lang wants NASA to send dolphins up on “the next space shot, the Apollo-Soyuz“; as the third and final Skylab crew had returned to Earth in February 1974, this was technically correct, even if the notion of strapping a dolphin into an Apollo capsule is impractical at best. Guest star Anne Schedeen, here playing a NASA computer programmer, would have later brushes with suspicious space travelers as one of the stars of the 1980s sitcom ALF.
LogBook entry by Earl Green
Relton (Douglas), Simon Gipps Kent (Paul), Nigel Pegram (Traffic Warden), Lindsay Campbell (Lieutenant General McLelland), Derek Murcott (Major Longford)
Cast: John Saxon (Dylan Hunt), Janet Margolin (Harper-Smythe), Ted Cassidy (Isiah), Christopher Cary (Baylok), Diana Muldaur (Marg), Sally Kemp (Treece), Johana de Winter (Villar), Claire Brennen (Delba), Corrine Camacho (Bronta), Majel Barrett (Yuloff), Jim Antonio (Jonathan Connor), Aron Kincaid (Gorda), John Quade (Kreeg Commandant), Rai Tasco (Pater Kimbridge), Sara Chattin (Thetis), Lew Brown (Merlo), Raymond Sutton (Kreeg Captain), Joan Crosby (Kyla), James Bacon (Partha), Craig Hundley (Harpsichordist), Robert McAndrew (First Dink), Bob Golden (Second Dink), Susan Page (Little Girl)
Notes: Planet Earth is based on a story idea that Gene Roddenberry had mooted as a “possible future episode” of both the original 
producer Robert Justman, is credited as the producer of Planet Earth as well. Diana Muldaur had appeared in the original Star Trek episodes 
(Chris), Eric Young (Lee Wan), Lindsay Campbell (Lieutenant General McLelland), Arnold Peters (Dr. Laird), Derek Murcott (Major Longford), William Relton (Douglas), Simon Gipps Kent (Paul), Nigel Pegram (Traffic Warden)
Cast: Elizabeth Adare (Elizabeth), Nicholas Young (John), Peter Vaughn Clarke (Stephen), Philip Gilbert (TIM), Christopher Chittell (Chris), Eric Young (Lee Wan), Arnold Peters (Dr. Laird), William Relton (Douglas), Simon Gipps Kent (Paul), Lindsay Campbell (Lieutenant General McLelland), Derek Murcott (Major Longford)
Cast: Michael Gray (Billy Batson), Les Tremayne (Mentor), Jackson Bostwick (Captain Marvel), Kerry MacLane (Chuck Wagner), Barry Miller (Mike), Ty Henderson (Kyle), Lee Joe Casey (Rich)
DC Comics). But that was also the year that National Comics sued Fawcett for copyright infrignement, a suit that was initially decided in Fawcett’s favor, but a 1951 appeal gave National Comics the upper hand. The two companies settled out of court, with Fawcett backing out of the comics business altogether. DC Comics licensed and revived Captain Marvel – quite probably for the sheer perversity of keeping a character named Captain Marvel out of the hands of its new rival, Marvel Comics – in 1972, keeping the character alive through what is now widely regarded as the Silver Age of comics. In 1980, DC put enough money on the table for Fawcett to hand over all rights to Captain Marvel and its other comics to DC in perpetuity.
installments, as well as script-editing the series (and, in interviews for the DVD release of the series, Gerrold says he was responsible for nailing down the series concepts into a coherent writers’ bible, although Allan Foshko and executive producers Sid and Marty Krofft are credited with creating the series). Art director Herman Zimmerman would be later be involved with Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and virtually all of the Star Trek feature films that were released during those two series’ run. Original series prop and monster-maker Wah Chang created the detailed animated dinosaur models, which were truly impressive for a television show in the early ’70s, and Michael Westmore – credited as “Mike” – handled the series’ creature makeup. Other Trek veterans crop up during the series’ run – see if you can spot them all!
Cast: Spencer Milligan (Rick Marshall), Wesley Eure (Will Marshall), Kathy Coleman (Penny Marshall), David Greenwood (Sleestak), William Laimbeer (Sleestak), John Lambert (Sleestak), Philip Paley (Cha-Ka)