Search Results for: David Weddle

Exodus – Part 2

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Battlestar GalacticaThe insurrection against the Cylon occupation reaches its tipping point: with the grounded Colonial ships on New Caprica restored to flight-readiness, the battle to drive the Cylons off the planet or simply destroy their ground presence begins in earnest. Galactica jumps right into the planet’s atmosphere, launching her Vipers before jumping back into space, where Adama finds himself facing more Cylon basestars than he bargained for. Apollo wrestles with his orders – to take Pegasus and lead what’s left the civilian fleet to the safety of Earth – and ultimately decides not to follow them, knowing that one of the two Battlestars won’t return from the fight. When Gaeta pulls a gun to bring Baltar’s presidency to an end, Baltar begs him for death. And when Tigh learns that his wife sold the resistance out to the Cylons to save his life, it falls to him to deliver her sentence.

written by Bradley Thompson & David Weddle
directed by Felix Alcala
music by Bear McCreary

Guest Cast: Michael Hogan (Colonel Tigh), Aaron Douglas (CPO Tyrol), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Nicki Clyne (Cally), Alessandro Juliani (Lt. Gaeta), Kandyse McClure (Dualla), Lucy Lawless (D’anna Biers), Michael Trucco (Anders), Richard Hatch (Tom Zarek), Rick Worthy (The Doctor), Callum Keith Rennie (Leoben Conoy), Kate Vernon (Ellen Tigh), Donnelly Rhodes (Doc Cottle), Matthew Bennett (Doral), Rekha Sharma (Tory Foster), Erica Cerra (Maya), Luciana Carro (Kat), Leah Cairns (Racetrack), Madeline Parker (Kacey), Dominic Zamprogna (Jammer), Eileen Pedde (Mathias), Ty Olsson (Captain Kelly), Ryan Robbins (Connor), Emilie Ullerup (Julia)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Rapture

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Battlestar GalacticaWith Galactica’s nuclear weapons trained on the planet below, the Cylons agree to order their raiders not to land – all except for D’anna, who allows her opposite number to continue onward, risking the attack on the planet. D’anna believes that the Eye of Jupiter can lead her to the mystery of the missing five Cylon models, and Baltar goes with her. On the planet, Apollo keeps Anders from going to save Starbuck – but then orders Dualla to do it instead. Helo and Sharon decide to try their most desperate gambit yet to recover their child, but their plan – to kill Sharon on Galactica and have her resurrect into a new body on the Cylon ship – may put the Colonial fleet at even greater risk. Time is running out to decipher the runes at the 4,000 year old temple, but its true meaning may become clear on its own, with deadly effects for both humans and Cylons.

written by David Weddle & Bradley Thompson
directed by Michael Rymer
music by Bear McCreary

Guest Cast: Michael Hogan (Tigh), Aaron Douglas (CPO Tyrol), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Nicki Clyne (Cally), Alessandro Juliani (Lt. Gaeta), Kandyse McClure (Dualla), Lucy Lawless (D’anna Biers), Michael Trucco (Anders), Callum Keith Rennie (Leoben Conoy), Dean Stockwell (Brother Cavel), Brad Dryborough (Hoshi), Eileen Pedde (Sgt. Mathias), Alisen Down (Barclay), Diego Diablo Del Mar (Dillard), Aleks Paunovic (Marine Sgt. Fischer), Tygh Runyan (Pvt. Byers)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Maelstrom

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Battlestar GalacticaDisturbed by recurring nightmares about Leoben, the Cylon who held her captive on New Caprica, Starbuck visits an oracle, who unsettles her even further with a prediction that Leoben is coming to find her. After this encounter, Starbuck is reluctant to seek further help with her nightmares, even though Anders is willing to accompany her to see a psychiatrist. During fleet refueling operations, a routine recon flight becomes anything but when Starbuck spots a Cylon raider and pursues it, nearly getting herself killed in a storm in the planet’s atmosphere. But afterward, on Galactica, a review of her gun camera footage shows no Cylon ship, and both Starbuck and her superiors start to wonder if she’s fit to fly. Apollo, convinced that she’ll overcome her problems, puts her back in the pilot’s seat and even offers to be her wingman…but it could prove to be their last mission together.

written by Bradley Thompson & David Weddle
directed by Michael Nankin
music by Bear McCreary

Guest Cast: Michael Hogan (Colonel Tigh), Aaron Douglas (CPO Tyrol), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Alessandro Juliani (Gaeta), Kandyse McClure (Dualla), Michael Trucco (Sam Anders),
Callum Keith Rennie (Leoben Conoy), Dorothy Lyman (Socrata Thrace), Bodie Olmos (Hotdog), Leah Cairns (Racetrack), Don Thompson (Figurski), Sarah Ryan (Pollux), Georgia Craig (Oracle Drenn), Erika-Shaye Gair (Child Kara)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

He That Believeth In Me

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Battlestar GalacticaGalactica’s entire command crew is stunned into silence at the sound of Starbuck’s voice. Even though they’re still reeling from the realization that they are among the Cylons’ fabled final five, Tigh, Tyrol, Anders and Tory are shocked by the return of Starbuck. Starbuck helps Galactica in the fight against the Cylon base ships, but after a Cylon fighter scans Anders at close range, the fight is over and the Cylons inexplicably retreat. Aboard Galactica, Starbuck’s triumphant return is met with a very muted response. She claims that she’s only been gone for six hours, and can’t explain why two months have passed for the rest of the fleet. She also can’t explain, except in the vaguest of terms, how she got to Earth and then returned to the fleet. Roslin orders Starbuck locked up and kept under guard, certain that this isn’t the real Kara Thrace, but a Cylon trick. Below decks, in the aftermath of his trial, Baltar is whisked away to the safety of a commune of people who consider him to be their messiah, and he begins to falteringly pass on the Cylons’ monotheistic belief system to his new followers, urging them to turn their backs on the pantheon of gods worshipped by the Colonials. But even among friends (and at least a few fanatics), Baltar discovers that he isn’t completely safe. Starbuck tries to convince Adama that she does know the way to Earth, but can’t give him a concrete reason to trust her. She then sets out to convince Roslin instead – with a gun in her hand.

Season 4 Regular Cast: Edward James Olmos (Admiral Adama), Mary McDonnell (President Laura Roslin), Katie Sackhoff (Lt. Starbuck), Jamie Bamber (Captain Apollo), James Callis (Dr. Gaius Baltar), Tricia Helfer (Number Six), Grace Park (Lt. Boomer)

written by David Weddle & Bradley Thompson
directed by Michael Rymer
music by Bear McCreary

Guest Cast: Michael Hogan (Colonel Tigh), Aaron Douglas (CPO Tyrol), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Michael Trucco (Anders), Alessandro Juliani (Lt. Gaeta), Kandyse McClure (Dualla), Rekha Sharma (Tory Foster)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Revelations

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Battlestar GalacticaWith both President Roslin and the newly-arrived Admiral Adama aboard the base ship, D’anna tips the balance in the Cylons’ favor: she takes Roslin hostage and demands that Adama escort her back to Galactica, where she announces that the final five must be allowed to come to the base ship of their own accord to rejoin their own kind. Shuttle traffic is not to be slowed down, examined closely or stopped. Lee Adama, in one of his first acts as the new president of the colonies, is forced to acceed to D’anna’s demands – and then orders his father to undertake a risky rescue mission which, if success looks impossible, will end in the destruction of the base ship and the hostages aboard. One by one, the Cylons in the fleet reveal themselves: Tory goes to the base ship supposedly to bring Roslin’s medication to her, and admit her true nature at the same time. Tigh admits to Adama that he’s a Cylon, and goes to await his fate as Adama turns the final corner into a nervous breakdown. As they try to figure out why a new signal has brought them to Starbuck’s viper, Tyrol and Sam Anders are arrested before Starbuck’s eyes for being Cylons, after Tigh reveals them to Lee. Lee threatens to airlock Tigh, Anders and Tyrol unless D’anna calls off the hostage situation; instead she locks all of the base ship’s nukes on the civilian vehicles in the fleet. Starbuck finds the source of the signal that drew the newly-revealed Cylons to her ship: it’s the ship itself, its instruments somehow pointing the way to Earth. Lee opts to share this information with the Cylons, which ends the hostage crisis, and Cylons and Colonials set a course for Earth.

But the next crisis to strike the fleet is the fact that they actually get there.

written by Bradley Thompson & David Weddle
directed by Michael Rymer
music by Bear McCreary

Guest Cast: Michael Hogan (Colonel Tigh), Aaron Douglas (Tyrol), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Michael Trucco (Anders), Alessandro Juliani (Gaeta), Kandyse McClure (Dualla), Lucy Lawless (D’anna Biers), Callum Keith Rennie (Leoben Conoy), Rekha Sharma (Tory Foster), Bodie Olmos (Hotdog), Keegan Connor Tracy (Jeanne), Brad Drybrough (Hoshi), Vincent Gale (Lt. Peter Laird), Don Thompson (SP3 Anthony Figurski), Alexandra Thomas (Hera), Lara Gilchrist (Paulla Schatter), Heather Doerksen (Sgt. Brandy Harder), Finn R. Devitt (baby Nicky), Sonja Bennett (SP3 Margie Brasko), Barry Norling (Adama’s Corporal)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Sometimes A Great Notion

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Battlestar GalacticaThe Colonial Fleet arrives at Earth – the constellations match, the planet and its sun are where Starbuck’s signal said it would be. And the planet itself is a charred cinder, a haven of life laid to waste by nuclear weapons over 2,000 years ago.

For many in the fleet, including President Roslin, all hope is lost – this is the last straw. Many shirk their duties and others, like Dualla, simply commit suicide. As morale plummets, even Admiral Adama finds his resolve, and his will to live, faltering. President Roslin stops seeking treatment for her cancer and can face neither the Quorum nor the press. Lee finds himself having to step up to the plate to address everyone’s fears in their darkest hour…but even he can’t imagine how he, or anyone else, can hold the fleet together now. On Earth, Starbuck makes a very disturbing discovery: the wreckage of her old Viper, complete with a charred skeleton in the cockpit, wearing her dogtags.

The Cylons make startling finds of their own; the entire planet is littered with the skeletal remains of the race that once lived there – the 13th tribe of the Colonies – but the skeletons aren’t Colonials: they’re Cylon. Tyrol, Anders and Tory discover that they have memories of lives on Earth, thousands of years ago. Tigh discovers repressed memories too – and with them, he discovers the identity of the last of the final five.

written by David Weddle & Bradley Thompson
directed by Michael Nankin
music by Bear McCreary

Guest Cast: Michael Hogan (Colonel Tigh), Aaron Douglas (Tyrol), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Michael Trucco (Anders), Alessandro Juliani (Gaeta), Kandyse McClure (Dualla), Lucy Lawless (D’anna Biers), Callum Keith Rennie (Leoben Conoy), Rekha Sharma (Tory Foster), Kate Vernon (Ellen Tigh), Brad Drybrough (Hoshi), Jennifer Halley (Seelix), Don Thompson (SP3 Anthony Figurski), Alexandra Thomas (Hera), Sonja Bennett (SP3 Margie Brasko)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Someone To Watch Over Me

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Battlestar GalacticaDespite the ongoing the Cylon repairs, Tyrol’s prognosis for Galactica is grim – at most, the ship has five jumps left before her back breaks. A Six is welcomed as the first Cylon representative to the Quorum, but she shocks Lee by making it clear that her first act is to request the extradition of Boomer, who will be tried and executed for turning against the rest of her model in the Cylon civil war. Tyrol goes to visit her in the brig, where she introduces him to a Cylon form of mental projection, allowing them to visit the dream home that they were never built together. But what Tyrol doesn’t realize is that Boomer’s mission wasn’t just to return Ellen Tigh to Galactica; that was the distraction. Her true mission was to kidnap Hera – and with Tyrol’s unwitting assistance, she’s about to succeed.

written by Bradley Thompson & David Weddle
directed by Michael Nankin
music by Bear McCreary

Guest Cast: Michael Hogan (Tigh), Aaron Douglas (Tyrol), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Michael Trucco (Sam Anders), Kate Vernon (Ellen Tigh), Donnelly Rhodes (Doc Cottle), Rekha Sharma (Tory Foster), Brad Drybrough (Hoshi), Roark Crichtlow (Pianist)

Notes: The piece of music that Starbuck accuses the pianist of “stealing” is indeed borrowed – from original Battlestar Galactica composer Stu Phillips. The piece is actually called “Exploration” and opened early episodes of the classic series under a narration asking “What if life here began out there?”

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Red Moon

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For All MankindJune 26, 1969: Around the world, people gather to watch live television coverage of the first moon landing carried out by human beings from Earth. The coverage is of particular interest to those at NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, where Mission Control is packed with engineers and Apollo astronauts, watching as Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov becomes the first man to set foot on the surface of the moon.

Everyone from the American public to President Nixon demands answers – what happened to NASA’s commanding lead in the race for the moon? Chief astronaut Deke Slayton and Wernher von Braun, the architect of NASA’s Saturn V rocket, find themselves facing the questions of the press. Apollo 10 astronaut Ed Baldwin, like many of the rest of his fellow astronauts, spend the following weekend drowning their sorrows and frustrations at the bar…but Baldwin makes the mistake of opening up to a reporter about how timid and risk-averse he feels NASA has become. When his comments make headlines, Baldwin is pulled from the flight rotation, losing his seat aboard Apollo 15…assuming there is an Apollo 15 following both the Soviets’ surprise victory. NASA and the rest of America continue to pin their hopes on the upcoming Apollo 11 mission, though any talk of ramping up that mission’s schedule is squelched by the need for the crew to not land in total darkness. If, for any reason, Apollo 11 fails, the American space program will likely fail with it.

For All Mankindteleplay by Ronald D. Moore
story by Ronald D. Moore & Matt Wolpert & Ben Nedivi
directed by Seth Gordon
music by Jeff Russo

Cast: Joel Kinnaman (Edward Baldwin), Michael Dorman (Gordo Stevens), Sarah Jones (Tracy Stevens), Shantel VanSanten (Karen Baldwin), Jodi Balfour (Ellen Waverly), Wrenn Schmidt (Margo Madison), Chris Bauer (Deke Slayton), Colm Feore (Wernher von Braun), Eric Ladin (Gene Kranz), Michael J. Harney (Jack Broadstreet), Dan Donohue (Thomas Paine), Arturo Del Puerto (Octavio Rosales), Olivia Trujillo (Aleida Rosales), Ben Begley (Charlie Duke), Rebecca Wisocky (Marge Slayton), Meghan Leathers (Pam Horton), Jeff Branson (Neil Armstrong), Chris Agos (Buzz Aldrin), Ryan Kennedy (Michael Collins), Noah Harpster (Bill Strausser), Nick Toren (Tim “Bird Dog” McKiernan), Daniel Scott Robbins (Hank Poppen), Deniz Akdeniz (Paul Santoro), Brandon Bales (Winston Blake), Dave Power (Frank Sedgewick), Nick Wechsler (Fred), Steven Pritchard (Pete Conrad), Spencer Garrett (Roger Scott), Teddy Blum (young Shane Baldwin), Tony Lewellen (Coop), Jason Scott David (young Daniel Stevens), William Lee Holler (young Jimmy Stevens), Graciana Rosales (Vanessa Lyon), Jeffrey Muller (Del), Max Barsness (Tommy), Christopher Wallinger (Harvey), Paolo Cesar (Guide), Christopher Kohls (Control Officer), Curtis Fortier (Reporter #1), Brian Houtz (Reporter #2), Laura Patalano (Teresa), Frank Gallegos (Angel), Margarita Reyes (Elena), Colton Castaneda (Jim)

For All MankindNotes: Best described as an alternate history of what would have unfolded following surprise Soviet steps on the lunar surface, For All Mankind is an exercise in total speculation and facts that have come to light since the real Apollo 11 mission in 1969. Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, who had already made history as the first human spacewalker, was indeed the Soviets’ choice to command their first lunar mission, though repeated spectacular failures of the real N-1 rocket kept the Soviets from ever putting cosmonauts in lunar orbit, let alone landing there (launch attempts were made in February 1969, as noted in this episode’s dialogue, July 1969, June 1971, and November 1972). Additionally, Nixon’s speech – written for him in the event of the death of the Apollo 11 crew – was indeed real, written by White House speechwriter Bill Safire; the original document, repeated word-for-word in this episode, can be seen online in the National Archives.

Replaced by fictional alternates for dramatic purposes in this story were the actual crew of Apollo 10, astronauts Thomas Stafford, Gene Cernan, and John Young; of the three, only Stafford was still alive at the time this episode aired. Gene Kranz was indeed the lead flight controller on duty for the Apollo 11 landing, though he would become more famous for his relentless push to get the men of the doomed Apollo 13 mission home in 1970, which is the actual source of his quote, “Failure is not an option.” The Apollo Applications Program was a real program as well, and while it perhaps wasn’t as “sexy” as landing on the moon, it wasn’t viewed as “Siberia”, as it would beget such real missions as the Skylab space station program and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. Apollo Applications was simply a typically dry name for a program that would have put the Apollo technology originally For All Mankinddeveloped for the moon landings to use for practical applications both closer to Earth, and further away, including long-duration lunar missions and even an audacious crewed orbital mission to Venus in an uprated Apollo command/service module, a mission which never left the drawing board; in real life, Apollo Applications would fall victim to President Nixon’s aggressive push for what was hoped would be a more cost-effective, reusable vehicle called the Space Shuttle.

Co-created by Star Trek: The Next Generation and Battlestar Galactica writer Ronald D. Moore, For All Mankind is staffed behind the scenes with a considerable number of alumni from both series, including writer/producers Naren Shankar, David Weddle, and Bradley Thompson, producer Steve Oster, technical consultant Michael Okuda, and casting director Junie Lowry-Johnson.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Into The Abyss

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For All Mankind1971: A flyover of Shackleton Crater at the moon’s south pole reveals a much higher concentration of water ice than exists at Apollo 15’s planned landing site at Mare Frigoris. With pressure from both mission commander Ed Baldwin and from the White House itself, concerned that finding water ice on the lunar surface could jumpstart plans for a permanently occupied lunar military base ahead of the Soviets, Apollo 15’s flight plan is changed late in the game, but Baldwin and Cobb still manage to bring their lunar module in for a safe landing…but on the rim of the crater, rather than inside it, where so little sunlight hits the crater floor that it’s impossible to see. But the ice isn’t on the rim in the sunlight, and another major change to the mission plan is made: one of the astronauts must rappel into the crater with a makeshift harness made of items that were never intended to serve that purpose. Molly Cobb, pointing out that she’s lighter, is the ideal candidate…but the search for the all-important ice could become a life-or-death mission.

For All Mankindwritten by David Weddle & Bradley Thompson
directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan
music by Jeff Russo

Cast: Joel Kinnaman (Edward Baldwin), Michael Dorman (Gordo Stevens), Sarah Jones (Tracy Stevens), Shantel VanSanten (Karen Baldwin), Jodi Balfour (Ellen Waverly), Wrenn Schmidt (Margo Madison), Chris Bauer (Deke Slayton), Sonya Walger (Molly Cobb), Eric Ladin (Gene Kranz), Michael J. Harney (Jack Broadstreet), Dan Donohue (Thomas Paine), Krys Marshall (Danielle Poole), Lenny Jacobson (Wayne Cobb), Edwin Hodge (Clayton Poole), Dave Power (Frank Sedgewick), Noah Harpster (Bill Strausser), Nick Toren (Tim “Bird Dog” McKiernan), Daniel Scott Robbins (Hank Poppen), Nick Wechsler (Fred), Teddy Blum (young Shane Baldwin), Jason Scott David (young Daniel Stevens), William Lee Holler (young Jimmy Stevens), Tracy Mulholland (Gloria Sedgewick), For All MankindBenjamin Seay (Ray Schumer), Korey Simeone (Doctor Chase), Nick Heyman (Sentry)

Notes: In the alternate timeline of For All Mankind, the Apollo missions upgrade to something a bit more modern than the DSKY computers that powered the real Apollo missions. In reality, ice wasn’t discovered to be likely in Shackleton Crater until 2012, when NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter detected signs that nearly a quarter of the surface material in the crater was probably water ice.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Bent Bird

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For All MankindChristmas 1974: Apollo 24 finally lifts off, but a faulty circuit board in its Saturn V rocket prevents it from executing an engine burn to put it on course for the moon. Apollo 25, whose crew was already preparing for a satellite repair mission in low Earth orbit, is given a new mission: repair Apollo 24’s booster in orbit. While it may sound simple on paper, the repair procedure involves extensive spacewalks and previously untried procedures. Worse yet, the moment that the new component of Apollo 24’s booster is installed, the rocket fires, dragging the Apollo 25 command/service module along with it; Apollo 24 astronaut Harrison Liu is killed. Molly Cobb, still tethered to the Apollo 24 booster, untethers the Apollo 25 command module and then herself, necessitating an unplanned rescue mission with razor-thin fuel margins. Apollo 24 is out of contact with Houston, and according the best estimates of its trajectory, will miss the moon completely, continuing on into deep space and dooming its crew. On the moon, now more than seven months into his stay, Ed Baldwin comes face-to-face with a Soviet cosmonaut who has been making unauthorized use of Jamestown Station’s ice extraction equipment. When that cosmonaut knocks at Jamestown’s base, short on oxygen and in need of refuge, Baldwin could make the obvious choice to help his fellow man…but doesn’t.

For All Mankindwritten by David Weddle & Bradley Thompson
directed by John Dahl
music by Jeff Russo

Cast: Joel Kinnaman (Edward Baldwin), Michael Dorman (Gordo Stevens), Sarah Jones (Tracy Stevens), Shantel VanSanten (Karen Baldwin), Jodi Balfour (Ellen Waverly), Wrenn Schmidt (Margo Madison), Chris Bauer (Deke Slayton), Sonya Walger (Molly Cobb), Wallace Langham (Harold Weisner), Arturo Del Puerto (Octavio Rosales), Olivia Trujillo (Aleida Rosales), Krys Marshall (Danielle Poole), Mark Ivanir (Mikhail Mikailovic), Meghan Leathers (Pam Horton), Rebecca Wisocky (Marge Slayton), Lenny Jacobson (Wayne Cobb), Stephen Oyoung (Harrison Liu), Charlie Hofheimer (Dennis Lambert), Chris Agos (Buzz Aldrin), Noah Harpster (Bill Strausser), Nick Toren (Tim “Bird Dog” McKiernan), James Urbaniak (Agent Gavin Donahue), Megan Dodds (Andrea Walters), Mason Thames (Daniel Stevens), Tracy Mulholland (Gloria Sedgewick), Aria Song (Cecelia Liu), Carin Chea (Penny Chen), Theo Iyer (Carl Reid), Brian McGrath (Sam), Ben Solenberger (LMSYS)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Murrow Disappearance

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SearchA high-ranking advisor to the Joint Chiefs of Staff goes missing, and PROBE is called in to find him, with a pre-mission briefing from an anonymous source code-named Saratoga. Lockwood is once again on the case, and the narrow trail of clues leads to an exclusive club for high-roller gamblers who happen to have high international security clearances. When Lockwood’s papers, identifying him as a UN official, are sniffed out as being forged documents, his cover is blown – and when the missing man turns up dead, the stakes have never been higher.

written by Leslie Stevens
directed by Russ Mayberry
music by Dominic Frontiere

SearchCast: Hugh O’Brian (Hugh Lockwood), Burgess Meredith (Cameron), Angel Tompkins (Gloria), Capucine (Silvana Tristano), Maurice Evans (Mr. White), David White (Mr. Llewellyn), Ted Hartley (Lee Cardiff), Ginny Golden (Miss Keach), Vernon Weddle (McEgan), Lawrence Cook (Compton), Richard Stahl (Dr. Behrens), Elven Havard (Ambulance Attendant), Loren James (Chauffeur), Melissa MacKay (The Singer), John Raynor (Pale Man), Jay MacIntosh (Adele Murrow)

SearchNotes: With PROBE having gone weekly (and having gone through a name change), Leslie Stevens called upon his old Outer Limits cohort Bob Justman (producer of Star Trek and, later, of the early first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation) to produce Search. Joining Justman on Search was fellow Trek veteran Fred Phillips, the makeup artist who devised Spock’s ears.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Galactica Discovers Earth

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Battlestar Galactica (original)The beleaguered Battlestar arrives at Earth, a full generation after having received the planet’s location. But there are two problems: the Cylons are still in pursuit of Galactica, and somewhat to the crew’s surprise, Earth (in the year 1980 A.D., by its time scale) isn’t even remotely capable of withstanding a Cylon attack. Adama’s grandson Troy (who spent his childhood with the nickname “Boxey”) and Lt. Dillon remain on Earth as their ship departs Earth once more in an attempt to divert the Cylons from the defenseless human race. A plan emerges to give the human race a higher order of technology to defend Earth from the Cylon onslaught, but there is disagreement over how much technology should be given to a race which is just as likely to destroy itself. And one member of the Council of Twelve decides to take matters into his own hands, traveling back in time to arm the people of Earth with advanced weaponry…but he may be handing dangerously sophisticated technology to precisely the wrong players in Earth’s history.

Season 2 Regular Cast: Lorne Greene (Commander Adama), Kent McCord (Captain Troy), Barry Van Dyke (Lt. Dillon), Robyn Douglass (Jamie Hamilton), Patrick Stuart (Dr. Zee), Herbert Jefferson Jr. (Colonel Boomer), Fred Holliday (Brooks)

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Glen A. Larson
directed by Sidney Hayers

Guest Cast: Robbie Rist (Dr. Zee), Richard Lynch (Xavier), Robert Reed (Professor Mortinson), Christopher Stone (Major Stockwell), Sharon Acker (Secretary), Richard Eastham (General Cushing), Albert Paulsen (?), Louis Turenne (?), Michael Strong (?), Pamela Susan Shoop (Ms. Carlyle), Vernon Weddle (First cop), David Moses (Second cop), Brion James (Willy), Mickey Jones (Donzo), Duncan Mackenzie (First pilot), Bruce Douglas (Second pilot), Eddie Firestone (Derelict), Frank Downing (First guard), Don Maxwell (Second guard), Ted Gehring (Sheriff), Curt Lowens (German commander), James R. Parkes (Walt Griffin), Bruce Wright (Aide), Adam Starr (Willy Griffin), Missy Francis (Little girl), Todd Martin (Third German), John Zenda (Cop), Erik Holland (Second German officer), Eric Forst (First German officer), Hank Brandt (Colonel), Duncan Mackenzie (Third guard), Jonathan Williams (Second guard), Paul Brown (Fourth guard), Ray Duke (Newspaper boy), Doug Hale (Air Force Major), Billy Jacoby (Tucker)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Mark Of The Saurian

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Buck Rogers In The 25th CenturyAliens with the ability to change their appearance to look human infiltrate one of Earth’s most critical strategic defense stations, killing the station’s command crew and taking over. On the Searcher, Buck is bedridden at an inopportune time – an Earth ambassador is about to board the ship before she heads out on a diplomatic assignment. Buck hobbles out of the Searcher’s sick bay to watch the welcoming ceremony, but he see someone other than Ambassador Cabot and his entourage; he later tells Wilma that he saw reptilian creatures instead. Everyone else, however, sees the Ambassador’s party as normal human beings. When Buck suspects that the Searcher’s mission is being compromised, possibly leading to the lizards’ infiltration of all of Earth space, he takes matters into his own hands even though he get his friends to believe his story.

Order the DVDswritten by Francis Moss
directed by Barry Crane
music by Herbert D. Woods

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Colonel Wilma Deering), Thom Christopher (Hawk), Jay Garner (Admiral Asimov), Wilfred Hyde-White (Dr. Goodfellow), Felix Silla (Twiki), Jeff David (voice of Crichton), Linden Chiles (Ambassador Cabot), Vernon Weddle (Dr. Moray), Kim Hamilton (Lt. Paulton), Paul Carr (Lt. Devlin), Frank Parker (Captain), Barry Cahill (Major Elif), Stacy Keach Sr. (General Kenton), Allan Hunt (Willie)

Notes: Apparently the Earth Defense Directorate has either given way to, or is a part of, a body called the Earth Alliance. The show’s plummeting budget was beginning to show clearly, with a barely-altered electronic zodiac game commonly available in 1980, and a Commodore PET computer, serving as very visible props. Guest star Kim Hamilton, a ubiquitous face of 70s TV, also appeared in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Final Mission.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Rupture

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For All Mankind1974: Ed Baldwin’s son, Shane, has been left brain-dead after being hit by a car while trying to ride his bicycle to a school basketball game. Ed’s wife, Karen, makes the decision to take the burden of decision-making about Shane onto herself and also insists that Ed – now the lone American on the moon – not be told about his son’s condition. Ed does have a full plate on the lunar surface, gathering increasing evidence that the Soviet crew of the Zvezda lunar station is encroaching on the vicinity of the Jamestown station, of which Ed is now the sole occupant. As the preparation for Apollo 24 continues to run into delays, Karen Baldwin must begin facing the possibility that her son will never recover…and that she will have to tell Ed that not only is all not wall at home, but that things are in fact catastrophically bad.

For All Mankindwritten by Nichole Beattie
directed by Meera Menon
music by Jeff Russo

Cast: Joel Kinnaman (Edward Baldwin), Michael Dorman (Gordo Stevens), Sarah Jones (Tracy Stevens), Shantel VanSanten (Karen Baldwin), Jodi Balfour (Ellen Waverly), Wrenn Schmidt (Margo Madison), Chris Bauer (Deke Slayton), Wallace Langham (Harold Weisner), Arturo Del Puerto (Octavio Rosales), Olivia Trujillo (Aleida Rosales), Krys Marshall (Danielle Poole), Rebecca Wisocky (Marge Slayton), Leonora Pitts (Irene Hendricks), Chris Agos (Buzz Aldrin), Stephen Oyoung (Harrison Liu), Noah Harpster (Bill Strausser), John Rubenstein (Doctor Marsten), Spencer Garrett (Roger Scott), Megan Dodds (Andrea Walters), David Gautreaux (Barry Newsome), Scott Alan Smith (Dr. David Josephson), Tait Blum (Shane Baldwin), Germain Arroyo (Anthony), Tracy Mulholland (Gloria Sedgewick), Dan Warner (General Arthur Weber), Brian D. Johnson (Grush), Jeff Denton (Pendle), Krystal Torres (Cata), Kevin Glikmann (Jerry Biddle), Jan Munroe (Dr. Weddle)

Notes: Deke Slayton requalifying himself for flight status isn’t science fiction; he did, in fact, do this, but in preparation for the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project flight, a joint rendezvous and docking mission with a Soviet Soyuz vehicle. As is also the case in For All Mankind’s fictional narrative, his requalification came after long-standing concerns about Slayton’s cardiovascular health (which had left him grounded since the Mercury program) were re-evaluated by NASA flight surgeons.

LogBook entry by Earl Green