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Battlestar Galactica (Classic Series) Season 2 (Galactica: 1980)

Space Croppers

Battlestar Galactica (original)When a Cylon attack destroys the Colonial fleet’s food supply, the fugitives once again find themselves depending on Earth for their survival. Troy and Dillon disguise themselves and contact a beleaguered farmer whose livelihood hangs in the balance at the mercy of a developer who has more in mind for the land than agriculture. Though the farmer agrees to help Troy and Dillon, they may have to interfere with the land struggle in order to save the rest of the fleet.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Robert L. McCullough
directed by Daniel Haller

Guest Cast: Dana Elcar (John Steadman), Ana Alicia (Gloria Alonzo), Anna Navarro (Louise Alonzo), Bill Cort (Tren), Bill McKinney (Barrett), Ned Romero (Hector Alonzo), Booth Colman (Rogers), Joaquin Garay III (Chris Alonzo), Andy Jarrell (Maze), Phil Levien (Dante), Dennis Haysbert (The Creature), John Dancona (Foley), Gordon Haight (Deacon), Stefan Haves (Channon), Lance Mugleston (Pilot)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Battlestar Galactica (Classic Series) Season 2 (Galactica: 1980)

The Return of Starbuck

Battlestar Galactica (original)Dr. Zee goes to Commander Adama with a far-fetched claim – he has had a dream about a man he has never met, a man named Starbuck. While Zee has never met him, Adama fondly recalls the ace pilot – and remembers the last time any of Galactica’s crew saw him. Isolated from the rest of the fleet during a Cylon raid and left behind, Starbuck crash-landed his Viper on a distant world, unable to repair the ship or contact his crewmates. Worse yet, the only company Starbuck found immediately on this planet was an equally stranded Cylon pilot. Buried in the desolate tale of Starbuck’s ultimate fate, Adama reveals, are Zee’s true origins as well.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Glen A. Larson
directed by Ron Satlof

Guest Cast: Dirk Benedict (Starbuck), Judith Chapman (Angela), Rex Cutter (Cy), Ellen Gurkin (Girl on bridge), Gary Owens (voice of Cy)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Phoenix, The

The Phoenix

The PhoenixAncient ruins in Peru have been hiding a secret that could challenge everyone’s understanding of world history: a hermetically sealed casket, of a design far more advanced than the Incas were capable of building, is found. Inside is a perfectlly intact, but inert, man, bearing a medallion with an inscription mentioning the Egyptian god Osiris. Though this seems to be just a well-preserved corpse, the man returns to life and escapes the facility where his body is being studied. He hitches a ride with a photographer named Noelle, asking her to take him to the sea or he will die. Once there, he seems to be revitalized, as much by exposure to the sun as proximity to the ocean. The doctor who oversaw his unearthing, Ward Frazier, finds the man – who identifies himself as Bennu of the Golden Light – and discovers that he may be an alien in a human guise, the last remnant of an otherworldly civilization trying to pass its secrets on to Earth so its people can avoid the same self-destructive fate. Bennu is searching for a fellow traveler, who he believes has also come to Earth, but first he will have to survive the paranoia of 20th century Earth.

The Phoenixwritten by Anthony Lawrence & Nancy Lawrence
directed by Douglas Hickox
music by Arthur B. Rubinstein

Cast: Judson Scott (Bennu), Shelley Smith (Noelle Marshall), E.G. Marshall (Dr. Ward Frazier), Fernando Allende (Diego DeVarga), Daryl Anderson (Dr. Clifford Davis), Carmen Argenziano (Kingston), Patricia Conklin (Nurse), Angus Duncan (Surgeon), Terry Jastrow (Hood), Stanley Kamel (Murray), Richard Lynch (Justin Preminger), Jimmy Mair (Tim), James Malinda (Croupier), Paul Marin (Anesthesiologist), Hersha Parady (Lynn), Wayne Storm (Patrolman), Lyman Ward (Howard), Brett Williams (Technician)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Police Squad Season 1

A Substantial Gift

Police SquadA bank teller who’s deep in debt stages a holdup of her own bank, and leaves evidence pointing to a rather nondescript man who just happened to be there, and Frank Drebin is there. Police Squad, a special division of the police department, swings into action and discovers that one person’s story doesn’t add up. Now it’s up to Frank to figure out who that person is…

Season 1 Regular Cast: Leslie Nielsen (Frank Drebin), Alan North (Ed Hawkins), Rex Hamilton (Abraham Lincoln)

written by Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker and David Zucker
directed by Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker and David Zucker
music by Ira Newborn

Special Guest Star: Lorne Greene (as himself)

Guest Cast: Ed Williams (Mr. Olson), William Duell (Johnny), Barbara Tarbuck (Mr. Twice), Terry Wills (Jim), Terrence Beasor (Dr. Zubatsky), Russell Shannon (Ralph Twice), Jimmy Briscoe (Cop), Kathryn Leigh Scott (Sally)

Alternate Title: The Broken Promise

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Police Squad Season 1

Ring Of Fear

Police SquadA prizefighter past his prime has somehow been coerced into losing his matches in the boxing ring, and Frank Drebin is there. If the ex-champ would throw punches instead of throwing the whole fight, his career would be back on track – but his corrupt manager has kidnapped his girlfriend. Frank tries to save the fighter’s ladyfriend while also landing him his last shot at a career-saving match in the ring.

teleplay by Tino Insana and Robert Wuhl
story by David Misch
directed by Joe Dante
music by Ira Newborn

Special Guest Star: Georg Stanford Brown (as himself)

Guest Cast: Ed Williams (Mr. Olson), William Duell (Johnny), Rudy Solari (Martin), Patrick St. Esprit (Buddy), Tessa Richards (Mary), Floyd Levine (Cooper), Irwin Keyes (Luca), Grand Bush (The Champ)

Alternate Title: A Dangerous Assignment

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Police Squad Season 1

The Butler Did It

Police SquadThe daughter of a wealthy businessman is kidnapped on her birthday, and Frank Drebin is there. Frank and Ed listen closely to the recording of the kidnappers’ demands, and find an excellent clue – the distinctively bloated and grumpy sounds of the tuba. (Though it could also be a ship’s horn.) When Police Squad tracks down the kidnapper, the ruthless crook fights back. And when someone opens fire on Police Squad, Police Squad looks for a hiding place as quickly as possible!

teleplay by Pat Proft
story by Deborah Hwang and Robert K. Weiss
directed by Georg Stanford Brown
music by Ira Newborn

Special Guest Star: Robert Goulet (as himself)

Guest Cast: Ed Williams (Mr. Olson), William Duell (Johnny), Peter Lupus (Norberg), Tommy LaSorda (himself), Nicolas Coster (Warner), Lilibet Stern (Terri), Byron Webster (Thames), Ken Michelman (Kingsley), Peter Elbing (Mime), K. Callan (Charlotte)

Alternate Title: A Bird In The Hand

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Police Squad Season 1

Revenge and Remorse

Police SquadA district judge’s courtroom is booby-trapped with a powerful bomb, and Frank Drebin is there. But Frank suspects that someone else was there, too – Eddie, a just-paroled felon convicted of similar bombings in the past. Eddie’s ex-wife Lana seems strangely disinterested in the possibility that Eddie’s up to his old tricks again, and she also doesn’t care about Frank and Ed’s investigation, though she has no qualms about pantsing them for charity. As it turns out, Eddie has a showgirl on the side, and has been violating his parole. But is he really the mad bomber, or just a slightly agitated bomber?

written by Nancy Steen and Neil Thompson
directed by Paul Krasny
music by Ira Newborn

Special Guest Star: William Shatner (as himself)

Guest Cast: Ed Williams (Mr. Olson), William Duell (Johnny), Peter Lupus (Norberg), Dr. Joyce Brothers (herself), Spence Milligan (Eddie), Bonnie Campbell Britton (Lana), K.T. O’Sullivan (Mimi)

Alternate Title: The Guilty Alibi

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Police Squad Season 1

Rendezvous at Big Gulch

Police SquadA mob “insurance” scam threatens several inner city businesses and residents, and Frank Drebin is there. After a dance instructor is beaten up, Frank and Norberg open their own shop, and sure enough, the thugs drop by to offer them insurance. When Frank rebuffs their threats, the criminals strike, and strike hard. Frank does, in fact, have the key to ending the crime wave – largely because he and Norberg have opened a key-making store.

teleplay by Nancy Steen and Neil Thompson
story by Pat Proft
directed by Reza S. Badiyi
music by Ira Newborn

Special Guest Star: Florence Henderson (as herself)

Guest Cast: Ed Williams (Mr. Olson), William Duell (Johnny), Peter Lupus (Norberg), Al Ruscio (Dutch), Robert Costanzo (Leo), John Ashton (Rocky), Connie Needham (Jill), Rebecca Holden (Stella)

Alternate Title: Terror In The Neighborhood

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Police Squad Season 1

Testimony of Evil

Police SquadA struggling comedian, who owes money to the owner of a nightclub, dies in a suspicious car crash, and Frank Drebin is there. But this was no ordinary comedian – he was also a police informant who infiltrated a drug ring which is believed to operate from that very same nightclub. Frank takes the place of the deceased at the nightclub, and he’s no ordinary comedian either. But will Frank succumb to the lure of the limelight, or will he crack the case?

written by Tino Insana and Robert Wuhl
directed by Joe Dante
music by Ira Newborn

Special Guest Star: William Conrad (himself)

Guest Cast: Ed Williams (Mr. Olson), William Duell (Johnny), Peter Lupus (Norberg), Dick Clark (himself), Dick Miller (Dick)

Alternate Title: Dead Men Don’t Laugh

Notes: This was the final episode of Police Squad on ABC.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Star Wars TV Specials

Ewoks: Caravan of Courage (a.k.a. The Ewok Adventure)

Star WarsAn Ewok named Deej sets out on his primitive hang-glider to search for his two missing sons. He finds them stuck on a cliff and testily rescues them. On their way back to the Ewok village, Deej and his boys investigate a strange object Deej spotted from the air. It turns out to be a small space vehicle which appears to have no occupants. But when the inquisitive Ewoks look inside, they find a small human child. Moments after she is discovered, the young girl’s teenage brother bursts into the ship, trying to protect her, but the Ewoks overpower him and take both of them to their village. Cindel Towani, the girl, has fallen ill since her parents disappeared, and her brother Mace is powerless to help. The Ewoks nurse Cindel back to health, and now all the human children have to worry about is finding their missing parents, repairing their crashed ship, and going home. After the two children make a nearly-disastrous attempt to go it alone, Ewok medicine man Logray uses a little bit of Ewok magic to find where the human adults are…and the answer isn’t good. Mace and Cindel’s parents are being held by an enormous creature called the Gorax. Even though the Ewoks know how to reach the lair of the Gorax, none have ever returned from the monster’s clutches. Nevertheless, Logray decides that his tribe will help the marooned children rescue their parents. Mace, Cindel, Wicket, and the rest of the Ewoks set out on a treacherous journey across the third moon of Endor to challenge the Gorax…but when the time comes, Mace will have to defeat the Gorax alone.

Order the DVDsscreenplay by Bob Carrau
story by George Lucas
directed by John Korty
music by Peter Bernstein (Ewoks theme by John Williams)

Cast: Eric Walker (Mace Towani), Warwick Davis (Wicket), Fionnula Flanagan (Catarine Towani), Guy Boyd (Jeremitt Towani), Aubree Miller (Cindel Towani), Dan Frishman (Deej), Debbie Carrington (Weechee), Tony Cox (Widdle), Kevin Thompson (Chukla-Trok), Margarita Fernandez (Kalnk), Pam Grizz (Shodu), Bobby Bell (Logray), Burl Ives (Narrator)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Droids

The White Witch

DroidsDumped overboard with the cargo as their smuggler owner saves his own skin, Artoo and Threepio find themselves on a desert planet where two speeder racers happen to be practicing. The small-time racers, Jord Dusat and Thall Joban, pick up the droids. Dusat is particularly enthusiastic to have found an R2 unit, since they’ll need one to help pilot The White Witch, a speeder they’ve been customizing for the upcoming Boonta Race. But they’re not alone on this planet: a woman named Kea Moll is observing the racers and their new droids from a distance, and Tig Fromm, the heir to an interplanetary crime syndicate, intends to destroy Dusat and Joban before they can stumble across Fromm’s secret base of operations.

written by Peter Sauder
directed by Ken Stephenson
music by Patricia Cullen, David Greene and David W. Shaw
theme song by Stewart Copeland

DroidsVoice Cast: Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Peter MacNeill (Jord Dusat), Rob Cowan (Thall Joban), Lesleh Donaldson (Kea Moll), John Stocker (Vlix)

Notes: The Boonta Race is presumably related to the Boonta Eve pod race seen in Episode I (a movie which wouldn’t be made for another 14 years). With Tig Fromm’s mention of Jabba as a rival crime boss, it’s possible that the unidentified desert world is Tatooine (presumably Threepio wouldn’t recognize it as his memory was ordered wiped at the end of Episode III).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Droids Star Wars

Escape Into Terror

DroidsAt the secluded home of Kea Moll’s family, Thall and Jord continue to make much-needed repairs to their ship; Threepio and Artoo have to contend with the duties and responsibilities of Bantha farming. The droids stumble across a hidden chamber – the control room of a small, secret Rebel base. It’s only now that Kea reveals her sympathies to the rebellion, and the reason she’s been helping the two speeder racers. Sise Fromm’s criminal syndicate has built a powerful weapon called the Trigon One, and his son Tig Fromm’s blundering has given the Alliance a chance to obtain it.

written by Peter Sauder
directed by Ken Stephenson
music by Patricia Cullen, David Greene and David W. Shaw
theme song by Stewart Copeland

DroidsVoice Cast: Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Peter MacNeill (Jord Dusat), Rob Cowan (Thall Joban), Lesleh Donaldson (Kea Moll), John Stocker (Vlix)

Notes: The canon-bending unlikelihood of the droids starting out in Bail Organa’s possession at the end of Episode III, going through the animated series’ progression of owners, and returning to Organa’s service in time for the original trilogy becomes less unlikely if one considers the possibility that the droids were sent to Kea Moll’s family by fellow Rebel Organa in the first place…

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Droids Star Wars

The Trigon Unleashed

DroidsThall and Artoo set out to rendezvous with Jord and Kea’s mother, who have just hidden the Fromm gang’s Trigon battleship. But things don’t go as planned: the rendezvous never happens. Waiting at Kea Moll’s family compound, Threepio intercepts transmissions between Tig Fromm and Sise Fromm, revealing that the compound is surrounded by Fromm henchmen. Thall returns, having guessed that things have gone horribly wrong, to rescue Threepio and Kea, but their attempt to escape from the Fromm gang lands them in a trap. Sise Fromm has two hostages – Jord and Kea’s mother – and wants Thall to tell him where the Trigon is hidden. Even when this information is spilled, however, the droids are ahead of Fromm’s men.

Droidswritten by Richard Beban and Peter Sauder
directed by Ken Stephenson
music by Patricia Cullen, David Greene and David W. Shaw
theme song by Stewart Copeland

Voice Cast: Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Peter MacNeill (Jord Dusat), Rob Cowan (Thall Joban), Lesleh Donaldson (Kea Moll), John Stocker (Vlix)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Droids Star Wars

A Race To The Finish

DroidsThall and Jord, with Kea Moll and the droids in tow, are well on their way to the Boonta Speeder Race when their ship is attacked. The ship pursuing them, however, has limited speed and weapons – the best that Sise Fromm and the remnants of his crime gang can afford after the costly loss of the Trigon. Thall and Jord escape, so Sise Fromm calls in a favor from a bounty hunter: he wants the speeder racers and their friends captured and brought to him. The bounty hunter who owes him a favor is Boba Fett.

written by Richard Beban and Peter Sauder
directed by Ken Stephenson
music by Patricia Cullen, David Greene and David W. Shaw
theme song by Stewart Copeland

Voice Cast: Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Dan Hennessey (Jord Dusat), Rob DroidsCowan (Thall Joban), Lesleh Donaldson (Kea Moll), Don Francks (Boba Fett), Graeme Campbell (Proto One) John Stocker (Vlix), Winston Rekert (Sise Fromm)

Notes: Droids is divided up into three serialized stories showing Artoo and Threepio working for different masters, and this episode concludes what is essentially a four-part story detailing their service to Thall Joben and friends. Boba Fett is the first original series character other than the droids to appear in the series, and it’s a bit of a homecoming for the bounty hunter: his first appearance was in an animated segment of the Star Wars Holiday Special, and that segment – like the Droids series – was produced by Canadian animation studio Nelvana. Threepio claims that he and BL-17 “graduated from the same production facility,” though it may be a fabrication on the part of BL-17 (a droid taking orders from Boba Fett) to gain Threepio’s trust. If one is trying to work Droids into the continuity of the years between the prequel and original trilogies, Threepio has already had his mind wiped at Bail Organa’s instruction, and whatever “production facility” he might be remembering may be a fabrication planted during that memory wipe to prevent Threepio from remembering that he was constructed by Anakin Skywalker.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Droids Star Wars

The Lost Prince

DroidsThreepio and Artoo find work at a diner, though they’re not ideally suited to work as servers and find themselves unemployed again in record time, though not before they overhear word that bounty hunter IG-88 is on the trail of someone nearby. Threepio and Artoo are auctioned off, with another dilapidated droid, to a new master, Jann Tosh, to help with his Uncle Gundy’s mining operation. But the third droid isn’t a droid – it’s a living being incapable of speech, but, after eating a king-sized breakfast, is more than capable of working in the mines. But who is this new worker, and why are other parties dangerously interested in him?

Droidswritten by Richard Beban and Peter Sauder
directed by Ken Stephenson
music by Patricia Cullen, David Greene and David W. Shaw
theme song by Stewart Copeland

Voice Cast: Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Don Francks (Jann Tosh), Dan Hennessey (Uncle Gundy / Yorpa / Vinga / Jyn Obah), Taborah Johnson (Jessica Meade), Michel LeFebvre (Mon Julpa), John Stocker (Sollag)

LogBook entry by Earl Green