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1980s Season 1 Twilight Zone

Shatterday / A Little Piece And Quiet

By theLogBook.com
September 27, 1985

Shatterday: Peter Jay Novins, a businessman who is disgruntled with his lot in life, accidentally dials his own home phone number from a bar, and is stunned when he hears his own voice answering the phone. The man on the other end claims to be Peter Jay Novins – a man who is content with his lot in life. Stunned to his core, Peter leaves the bar, determined to take steps to starve his alter ego out of his life. But the harder Peter tries to force the “other” Peter away, the more he traps himself.

written by Alan Brennert
based on the short story by Harlan Ellison
directed by Wes Craven
music by Merl Saunders and Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir & Mickey Hart

Cast: Bruce Willis (Peter), Dan Gilvezan (Bartender), Murukh (Woman at bank), John Carlyle (Clerk), Seth Isler (Alter Ego), Anthony Grumbach (Bellboy)

A Little Peace And Quiet: A harried suburban housewife working in her garden digs up a buried box containing a sundial-like pendant. Later, as her temper reaches a boiling point, she screams “Shut up!” – and time stops. The flow of time is resumed only when she says “start talking,” and only she can move or speak in the interim. Before long, she learns to use this talisman’s supernatural ability to her advantage, but when her world comes crashing down around her, she finds it necessary to stop the clock… and never start it again.

written by James Crocker
directed by Wes Craven
music by Merl Saunders and The Grateful Dead

Cast: Melinda Dillon (Penny), Greg Mullavey (Russell), Virginia Keehne (Susan), Brittany Wilson (Janet), Joshua Harris (Russ Jr.), Judith Barsi (Bertie), Claire Nono (Newscaster), Elma Veronda Jackson (1st Shopper), Pamela Gordon (2nd Shopper), Laura Waterbury (3rd Shopper), Todd Allen (Preppy Man), Isabelle Walker (Preppy Woman)

Notes: Bruce Willis was already hot property at this point early in his career, with Moonlighting having premiered six months earlier; his breakout movie role in Die Hard was only three years away. Melinda Dillon’s other genre credits include the lead female role in 1977’s Close Encounters Of The Third Kind and the 1985 miniseries Space, a dramatized account of the American space program; she was also Ralphie’s mom in A Christmas Story (1983). Greg Mullavey had a regular role in the 1970s soap spoof Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. The marquee above the movie theater at the end of A Little Peace And Quiet name-checks two Cold War classics, Fail Safe and Dr. Strangelove.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

1980s Season 1 Twilight Zone

Wordplay / Dreams For Sale / Chameleon

By theLogBook.com
October 4, 1985

Wordplay: Words are just part of a salesman’s trade, but when those words begin getting switched with other words, resulting in a seemingly nonsensical new version of the English language, Bill Lowery finds himself unable to communicate with anyone at all and must start learning the language all over.

written by Rockne S. O’Bannon
directed by Wes Craven
music by Merl Saunders and Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir & Mickey Hart

Cast: Robert Klein (Bill Lowery), Annie Potts (Cathy Lowery), Adam Raber (Donnie), Robert J. Downey (Mr. Miller), Brian Bradley (Hotshot), Bernard Behrens (Older Salesman), Anne Betancourt (Admitting Nurse), William Peugh (Man #1), Helene Udy (Woman #1), Mimi Neyer-Craven (Receptionist), Brynja Willis (Secretary), Russ Marin (Doctor), Alexandra Morgan (Nurse #1), Lee Arnone (Nurse #2), Raye Birk (Bearded Man), Joseph Whipp (Doug Seaver), Dwier Brown (Robbie)

Dreams For Sale: A woman’s idyllic dream of the perfect domestic lifestyle – a husband, two children, picnics in the park – is interrupted by the realization that she is not the person in her dreams…and she doesn’t want to be who she is in reality.

written by Joe Cannon
directed by Tommy Lee Wallace
music by Merl Saunders and The Grateful Dead

Cast: Meg Foster (Jenny), David Hayward (Paul), Vincent Guastaferro (Dream Technician), Lee Anthony (Rescue Technician One), Kristi Purdy (Twin), Deanna Purdy (Twin)

Chameleon: A piece of equipment aboard a space shuttle mission exhibits a momentary blue glow in space, and then does so again when it is returned to Earth. The first NASA technician who picks it up vanishes in a flash of blue light, reappearing later while the equipment is studied in isolation. The crew chief who last handled it appears in the isolation chamber and demands to be set free, before changing his shape, repeating the plea for freedom and revealing that it is not of this world. When the scientists it perceives as captors refuse to release it, the being proves that it is capable of more forceful negotiations.

written by James Crocker
directed by Wes Craven
music by Merl Saunders and The Grateful Dead

Cast: Terrance O’Quinn (Dr. Lockridge), Ben Piazza (Dr. Heilman), John Ashton (Brady Simmons), Steve Howell Bassett (Gerald Tyson), Iona Morris (Annie), Alma Martinez (Teresa Rojas), Chad Hayes (Peter Iverson), Lin Shaye (Woman in Tank)

Notes: Terrance O’Quinn is better known as Terry O’Quinn, future star of Lost and future guest star on Tales From The Crypt, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The X-Files, Earth 2, and Alias. If Bernard Behrens doesn’t look familiar, maybe he sounds familiar: he was the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi in NPR’s 1980s radio adaptations of the Star Wars saga. Chameleon saw The Twilight Zone using a special effects resource that simply didn’t exist during the first season of the original Twilight Zone: NASA footage of astronauts working in space. Since the footage includes flights of the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), this narrows down the real missions in question to STS-41B, STS-41C, and STS-51A, all flown in 1984, the previous year. That’s the same year that Wes Craven’s horror megahit A Nightmare On Elm Street landed in theaters, making the director a superstar, and a major coup for the new Twilight Zone.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

1980s Season 2 Twilight Zone

Time And Teresa Golowitz / Voices In The Earth

By theLogBook.com
July 10, 1987

Time And Teresa Golowitz: Uninspired Broadway songwriter Bluestone has a visitor who identifies himself only as Prince…and Prince points out that Bluestone is actually lying on the floor dead, rather than his spirit, which is still sitting at the piano. Offered one visit to any event or place in time or space before judgement is passed on him, Bluestone opts to go back to 1948, a party in his senior year of high school, where he hopes to convince his high school crush to sleep with him. Unimpressed, Prince grants the request, but when he arrives in 1948, Bluestone is fixated on another classmate: a shy, awkward girl whose fate he doesn’t remember. When Prince reminds him that this night, this party, convinced Teresa Golowitz to end her own life, Bluestone decides to change his plans for the evening, along with history…whether that pleases any higher powers or not.

teleplay by Alan Brennert
based on the short story by Parke Godwin
directed by Shelley Levinson
music by William Goldstein

Cast: Gene Barry (Prince), Grant Heslov (Blaustein), Kristi Lynes (Teresa Golowitz), Paul Sand (Bluestone), Gina Gershon (Laura), Beau Dremann (Bob), Heather Haase (Mary Ellen Cosgrove), Wally Ward (Nelson Baxley), J.D. Roth (Boy at Party), Laurel Green (Girl at Party)

Voices In The Earth: An aging academic heads up the last scientific expedition to the ecologically ruined, abandoned planet Earth before the planet is scheduled to be strip-mined to its core. Unsure of precisely what it is he seeks, he explores abandoned structures on foot and keeps encountering glowing people who appear to be from the past, people who implore him to join them. They claim to be the spirits of the last Earth-born humans, the ones who were left on the planet while those who had the means to do so fled into space…and they need a host body to avoid being destroyed with what’s left of Earth.

written by Alan Brennert
directed by Curtis Harrington
music by William Goldstein

Cast: Martin Balsam (Professor Donald Knowles), Jenny Agutter (Jacinda Carlyle), Wortham Krimmer (Leader), Tim Russ (Archer), Dennis Haskins (Bledsoe), Ted Lehmann (Old Man), Eve Brenner (Old Woman), Sandra Ganzer (Girl), C’Esca Lawrence (Young Woman), Christopher Lofton (Middle-Aged Man)

Notes: The short story on which Time And Teresa Golowitz was based, “Influencing The Hell Out Of Time And Teresa Golowitz”, appeared in January 1982’s Twilight Zone Magazine; that segment features early career appearances for Gina Gershon and Grant Heslov (Hulu’s Catch-22). The second segment is packed with genre fan favorites, including Martin Balsam (The Six Million Dollar Man), Jenny Agutter (Logan’s Run, Red Dwarf), Tim Russ (Star Trek: Voyager), and Wortham Krimmer (Babylon 5), along with future Saved By The Bell star Dennis Haskins.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Blackadder Specials

1775 (US Series Pilot)

By Philip R. Frey
September 5, 1992

In colonial Philadelphia, innkeeper Jeremy Proctor tries to keep the Cock and Hound Inn afloat with revolution lurking just around the corner. His middle daughter, Eliza, frets that her hair is becoming “less flaxen” and sees her hopes for a husband fading. Her bookish older sister, Maude, is more interested in spelling bees than dating and the youngest, Abby, is becoming far too involved with the local revolutionaries (especially the boys). Jeremy’s wife, Annabelle, decides what they need is to send the girls to the Free Mason’s Ball, but Jeremy lacks the necessary funds. Jeremy is also under pressure from the Colonial Governor, Massengill, who’s always looking for new things to tax. Thanks to the new candle tax (suggested by Maude), Jeremy swallows his pride and tries to borrow money from his wife’s brother-in-law, George Washington, but Jeremy refuses to pay George’s exorbitant interest. The future of the entire Proctor may be at stake…

written by Martin Rips and Joseph Staretski
directed by David Trainer

Cast: Ryan O’Neal (Jeremy Proctor), Lesley-Anne Down (Annabelle Proctor), Sarah Koskoff (Maude), Judith Jones (Eliza), Danielle Harris (Abby), Gregory Sporleder (Bert), Adam West (George Washington), Jeffrey Tambor (Governor Massengill)

Notes: This is the pilot episode for what was intended to be an American version of Blackadder. Produced in 1992 for CBS, the series was not picked up and the pilot remains unreleased commercially, although it did air once and is available for viewing online.

Ryan O’Neal went on from the TV drama Peyton Place to become one of the golden boys of 1970s cinema starring in such films as Paper Moon (1973) and A Bridge too Far (1977).

Lesley-Anne Down’s main forte has been costume dramas, including a stint on classic UK drama Upstairs, Downstairs and the three North & South miniseries. Genre work is minimal, but includes From Beyond the Grave (1973) and Beastmaster III (1996).

Sarah Koskoff appeared as Theresa Nemman in The X-Files (1993), the original pilot for the series. She returned several times in that role. She also made appearances on SeaQuest DSV and Millennium.

Judith Jones has made appearances on the genre series Star Trek: The Next Generation and Sabrina The Teenage Witch. She also portrayed Debbie Reynolds in Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story (1995).

Danielle Harris appeared as Jamie Lloyd in both Halloween 4 (1988) and Halloween 5 (1989). She also appeared on genre series Eerie, Indiana and Charmed. Since 1998 she has provided the voice for Debbie Thornberry on the TV series The Wild Thornberrys and in its spin-off movies.

Gregory Sporleder has made guest appearances on shows such as NYPD Blue, The Drew Carey Show and Smallville. His film work includes diverse projects such as A League of Their Own (1992), True Romance (1993) and I Woke Up Early the Day I Died (1998).

Jeffrey Tambor first made an impression with his scene-stealing performance in …And Justice for All (1979). He finally gained national recognition for his work as Hank Kingsley on the HBO sitcom The Larry Sanders Show and later as patriarch of the Bluth family on Arrested Development. He finally won award recognition for his lead role on the Amazon Prime series Transparent. Other successful His genre work includes Muppets from Space (1999), Hellboy (2004) and the forward-thinking sci-fi series Max Headroom.

Adam West is best known for the role of Batman, a part he portrayed (in live action and animation) from the 1966 TV series and movie through the 1985 cartoon show The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians. His numerous genre work includes appearances on The Outer Limits and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman as well as in films such as Zombie Nightmare (1986) and Monster Island (2004).

LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey

Space Rangers

The Replacements

By theLogBook.com
January 6, 1993

Boon’s crew is assigned to track down a hijacked ore transport, but shortly after they catch up with the ship and board it, an armed man blasts Doc while someone else escapes in a lifepod. Boon brings Doc back to Fort Hope, where Mimmer starts trying to save his life while Boon interrogates his unhelpful prisoner. Boon complains bitterly about having to take on missions with an exhausted crew and equipment that’s fallen apart in the face of constant budget cuts, taking his anger out on Weiss, an Earth bureaucrat who’s been “exiled” to Fort Hope. Weiss responds to this outburst by assigning an android crewmember to Boon’s ship. After their sole prisoner is mysteriously murdered in his cell with no security record of how he died, the Space Rangers are left with a seized transport which appears to carry nothing but ordinary ore, and a lot of unanswered questions. Little do they know that the hijackers are working against them from inside Fort Hope.

written by Gregory Widen
directed by Ben Bolt
music by Hans Zimmer & Mark Mancina

Cast: Jeff Kaake (Captain John Boon), Marjorie Monaghan (Jojo), Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Zylyn), Jack McGee (Doc), Clint Howard (Mimmer), Danny Quinn (Daniel), Gottfried John (Weiss), Linda Hunt (Chennault), Richard Grove (Isogul), Keith Berger (Ringer), Richard Marcus (Bashad), Tony Amendola (Smuggler), Mark Venturini (Lieutenant), Gregory Phelan (Technician No. 1), Wendy Way (Technician No. 2)

Notes: Although aired first, this was not the series pilot, creating some inconsistencies in the flow of the storyline (i.e. Boon’s wife has already left him and gone to Earth, even later episodes contradict this). Tony Amendola would later become a fixture on Stargate SG-1 as Master Bra’tac. Writer Gregory Widen was the creator of the Highlander franchise, and wrote the screenplay to Backdraft, which was produced by Space Rangers creator Pen Densham.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Space Rangers

Banshees

By theLogBook.com
January 13, 1993

A cargo ship is beset by Banshees, creatures capable of surviving in the void of space and capable of tearing ships apart with their bare hands. Chennault is furious when she discovers that the cargo in question was human beings, only a few of whom escaped alive, victims of a scam offering cheap passage to Fort Hope. A message is received from a teenage boy who is apparently still alive on the transport, but no one understands how he could have survived alone among the Banshees for this long. Colonel Weiss sees an opportunity for scientific study of the Banshees, but all Boon and his crew see is a rescue mission. With Mimmer along for the ride, packing a weapon that he hopes will freeze a Banshee alive to be brought back to Fort Hope for study, the crew watches as the transport fades out of sight and reappears moments later. The ship is crawling with Banshees, and somehow the boy has remained alive – but his salvation is also what’s keeping Boon from being able to send him a message that help has arrived.

written by Herbert J. Wright
directed by David Burton Morris
music by Hans Zimmer & Mark Mancina

Cast: Jeff Kaake (Captain John Boon), Marjorie Monaghan (Jojo), Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Zylyn), Jack McGee (Doc), Clint Howard (Mimmer), Danny Quinn (Daniel), Gottfried John (Weiss), Linda Hunt (Chennault), Rick Latini III (Boy), Sharon Mahoney (Captain Suzy Watson), Dawn Jeffory (Irina), Gregg Daniel (Passenger), James Cooper (Zed), Mario Roberts (Helpful Man), Gary Byron (Pilot), Susan Fallender (Alien Tech)

Notes: At the beginning of the episode, Boon reveals that he and his wife are separated; due to the seemingly random re-ordering of the series for broadcast, the show’s pilot aired two weeks later, showing the Boon family still in one piece. Writer (and producer) Herbert J. Wright (1947-2005) was one of the original showrunners on Star Trek: The Next Generation during that show’s creatively uneven first two years, leaving after the show’s second season only to return as a “creative consultant” (and a controversial one at that, given his mantra of pursuing stories with “weird shit”) briefly during TNG’s fifth season. He also wrote and directed episodes of the TV version of War Of The Worlds.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Space Rangers

Death Before Dishonor

By theLogBook.com
January 20, 1993

Ambassador Marla Baker is at Fort Hope to wind up delicate trade negotiations with a warlike species called the Vee’Lon, only to watch all of her hard work unravel when Boon punches the Vee’Lon ambassador in a bar after the ambassador insists on fondling Jojo’s hair. The Vee’Lon ambassador’s aide de camp escalates things to a war footing, demanding an official apology but still promising the spilling of human blood. A higher-ranking ambassador is summoned from Earth to smooth things over, but thanks to a bomb placed aboard his ship, he never makes it to Fort Hope. It’s up to Baker to salvage the situation herself, even if it means offering Boon up for a fight to the death with the Vee’Lon ambassador.

written by Ed Speilman & Howard Spielman
directed by David Burton Morris
music by Hans Zimmer & Mark Mancina

Cast: Jeff Kaake (Captain John Boon), Marjorie Monaghan (Jojo), Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Zylyn), Jack McGee (Doc), Clint Howard (Mimmer), Danny Quinn (Daniel), Gottfried John (Weiss), Linda Hunt (Chennault), Claudia Christian (Ambassador Marla Baker), Sherman Howard (Prince Gor’Dah), Dana Gladstone (Lord Muk’Toh), John Mahon (Ambassador Hardcastle), Peter Looney (Max), Duane Whitaker (Roacher), Sheila Johnson (April), Larry Marks (Vee’lon Guard)

Notes: Mere weeks before Babylon 5 premiered, Claudia Christian was hanging out with the Space Rangers. (The Babylon 5 pilot movie did not feature her character, Commander Susan Ivanova, who wasn’t introduced until that series’ first hour-long episode in January 1994.)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Space Rangers

Fort Hope

By theLogBook.com
January 27, 1993

In the year 2104, Fort Hope is the most distant human outpost in deep space. A peacekeeping force called the Space Rangers struggles to maintain law and order on the frontier, all while tiptoing around treaties and delicate political situations. The job isn’t easy, and it is dangerous. Only the best need apply. Space Ranger John Boon is about to begin two months’ leave when Commander Chennault calls him back into action. A human ship has been forced down on the contested planet Scarab, and launching a rescue mission will violate numerous treaties; Chennault can’t offer any backup because she has to maintain deniability. Worse yet, one of the downed ship’s crew is Boon’s mentor.

Boon rounds up his crew, including a wet-behind-the-ears hotshot, Daniel Kincaid, whose bravado melts away when he sees the state of Boon’s transport. Ship’s engineer “Doc” delights in rattling Kincaid prior to launch; pilot Jojo’s rough flying and the presence of a Graaka warrior named Zylyn rattle him even more. Upon arrival at Scarab, Boon’s crew has to fight off an attack by space-borne marauders called Banshees. Once on the surface of Scarab, Boon realizes that the “rescue” was a trap all along.

teleplay by Pen Densham & M. Jay Roach
story by Pen Densham
directed by Mikael Salomon
music by Hans Zimmer & Mark Mancina

Cast: Jeff Kaake (Captain John Boon), Marjorie Monaghan (Jojo), Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Zylyn), Jack McGee (Doc), Clint Howard (Mimmer), Danny Quinn (Daniel), Gottfried John (Weiss), Linda Hunt (Chennault), Wings Hauser (Decker), Amy Steel (Sarah Boon), Sally Elise Richardson (Survivor), Art La Fleur (Henchman), Pat Morita (Nazzer), Danielle Zuckerman (Roxie Boon), Gary Lee Davis (Thick Neck), Thomas Rosales (Gambler), Dan Zukovick (Arran)

Notes: Co-writer Jay Roach (sometimes credited with an M. in front of his name) has previously worked with series creator Pen Densham on a Fox sci-fi TV movie, Lifepod, early in 1993, and was at one time attached to direct a movie version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, working closely with Douglas Adams through most of the 1990s until he got involved with his next big project, directing Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery and its sequels. Roach went on to even greater success directing Meet The Parents and its sequel, Meet The Fockers.

Though this was the series pilot, it was the last episode to air in the U.S.; CBS cancelled Space Rangers after four weeks due to low ratings. Two episodes were left unaired, premiering abroad and only appearing on home video in the U.S. Although he appears in the opening credits, Weiss does not appear in this episode.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

TV Movies

Without Warning

By theLogBook.com
October 30, 1994

In 1994, three asteroid fragments collide with the Earth’s northern hemisphere, one in France, one in a sparsely-populated area of northern China, and another in an isolated region of Wyoming. A little girl is found by a news crew near the Wyoming impact site, and a man who was on a skiing vacation is recovered from a mountain near the crater in France. Both of them try to say something, but in both cases their words emerge as an incomprehensible string of seemingly random syllables. Within hours, from each impact site, a powerful radio signal is transmitted by an unknown source, jamming all air traffic, satellite communications and ground-based radio signals along the 45th parallel. As the world tries to take in the meaning of these events, a second asteroid is detected on a collision course with Earth. The Air Force launches two F-16 fighter jets to intercept the incoming asteroid with nuclear weapons, and though the mission is a success, the two planes mysteriously vanish. The population of a small town near the Wyoming crater disappears without warning, and the radio signals from the three impact sites cease. Concerned members of the scientific community, some of them defying orders from the White House and the Pentagon, offer the possibility that the geometric precision of the impact sites are a hint that the asteroids were, in fact, launched by an extraterrestrial intelligence. Three new asteroids are detected, aimed with equal precision at Washington, Beijing and Moscow – the capitols of the three Earth powers with nuclear capability. The two survivors of the initial impacts suddenly die, just before analysis of their disjointed words reveals a deadly secret. Another nuclear counterstrike is launched by the military, and the three asteroids are destroyed before they can make contact with their targets – but that action only seals the doom of the entire human race.

teleplay by Peter Lance
story by Jeremy Thorn & Walon Green and Peter Lance
directed by Robert Iscove
music by Craig Safan

Cast: Sander Vanocur (Sander Vanocur), Jane Maczmarek (Dr. Caroline Jaffe), Bree Walker Lampley (Bree Walker), Dwier Brown (Matt Jensen), Brian MacNamara (Mike Curtis), James Morrison (Paul Whitaker), Ashley Peldon (Kimberly Hastings), James Handy (Dr. Norbert Hazelton), Kario Salem (Dr. Avram Mandel), Spencer Garrett (Paul Collingwood), Gina Hecht (Barbara Shiller), John de Lancie (Barry Steinbrenner), Patty Toy (Denise Wong), Dennis Lipscomb (Dr. Richard Pearson), Ron Canada (Terrance Freeman), Victor Wilson (Mark Manetti), Phillip Baker Hall (Dr. Kurt Lowden), Jim Pirri (Robert Marino), Alan Scarfe (General Lucian Alexander), Cynthia Allison (Cynthia Allison), Ernie Anastos (Ernie Anastos), Arthur C. Clarke (Arthur C. Clarke), Sandy Hill (Sandy Hill), Michelle Holden (Michelle Holden), Mario Machado (Mario Machado), Warren Olney (Warren Olney), Saida Pagan (Saida Pagan), Richard Saxton (Richard Saxton), Debra Snell (Debra Snell), Randy Crowder (Deputy Anson Peters), Diana Frank (Sylvie Chounard), Marnie McPhail (Donna Hastings), Sherri Paysinger (Pamela Barnes), Robert Peters (Dwayne Haskell), Lou Beatty Jr. (Dr. Jonas Tremblay), Frank Bruynbroek (French Skier), John de Mita (Major Powers), Tyler Cole Malinger (Tyler O’Neal), Marnie Mosiman (Annie O’Neal), Armand Schultz (David Case)

Notes: There are many slight errors which were probably intended to be deliberate clues to the viewer that this was not an actual newscast. For one thing, naturally, the coverage came from a news-gathering organization which no one has ever seen before (though CBS caught much flak for using its own standard news graphics, thus causing some of that genuine confusion and concern that made this movie so much fun!). Numerous actor cameos in the roles of reporters and others are a dead giveaway, particularly the ever recognizable John de Lancie. The “news coverage” is also too smooth by far – there seem to be live audio and video feeds from nearly everywhere the unnamed news network needs to be. How convenient! And absolutely impossible, too! The “interference” which peppers the screen often is actually the faded-in image of out-of-whack tape tracking on a broadcast grade VTR. Without Warning avoided a pitfall to which Countdown To Looking Glass fell prey – stepping out of character to show what was going on behind the scenes. The entire program maintained its constant “newscast” front for two hours in real time, with the singular exception of, at the very end, a shot of…well, that would be telling.

LogBook entry and review by Earl Green

Season 1 Supergirl

Supergirl (pilot)

By theLogBook.com
October 26, 2015

In the dying days of the planet Krypton, young Kara Zor-El is sent to Earth to protect her younger cousin, Kal-El. When debris from Krypton’s destruction knocks Kara’s escape pod off-course, a detour through the Phantom Zone means that she doesn’t reach Earth until after Kal-El has reached maturity (and become known to the world as Superman). Her upbringing is entrusted to the Danvers family, where she has a normal life, an older sister…and eventually grows up in a very human way, not using her powers at all, holding down a dead-end job at the National City Tribune, being ordinary.

This ends when she learns that a flight taking her sister to Geneva is about to crash. She brings the plane down safely, but in doing so exposes herself to the scrutiny of the public as well as secret organizations. One of them, a cabal of Kryptonian criminals banished to the Phantom Zone, followed her pod to Earth, a planet of weak beings they intend to subjugate. Kara is an obstacle to their plans and is marked for death.

But Kara is even more disturbed to find that another organization, tracking aliens and those with extraordinary powers, includes her older sister, Alex, among its ranks. This organization is aware of, and closely monitors, the Kryptonian criminals, but believes Kara will prove ineffective in stopping them. She is urged to go back into hiding, to retreat into ordinary human life.

But it’s too late for that. Cat Grant, publisher of the Tribune, has taken the few blurry photos of Kara from the airplane rescue and has attached a name to National City’s new hero: Supergirl. With some advice from James (formerly Jimmy) Olsen, an old friend of her cousin’s, Kara must now navigate the already-complicated life of a twenty-four year old woman…and a secret life as a superhero.

teleplay by Ali Adler
story by Greg Berlanti & Ali Adler & Andrew Kreisberg
directed by Glen Winter
music by Blake Neely

Cast: Melissa Benoist (Kara / Supergirl), Mehcad Brooks (James Olsen), Chyler Leigh (Alex Danvers) Jeremy Jordan (Winn Schott), David Harewood (Hank Henshaw), Calista Flockhart (Cat Grant), Dean Cain (Jeremiah Danvers), Laura Benanti (Alura / Astra), Helen Slater (Eliza Danvers), Owain Yeoman (Vartox), Faran Tahir (Commander), Ben Begley (Tobey), Robert Gant (Zor-El), Derek Mio (Hayashi), Maline Weissman (young Kara Zor-El), Jordan Mazarati (young Alex Danvers), Briana Venskus (Agent Vasquez), Chriss Anglin (Pilot), Rick Garcia (Himself), Nick Jaine (Another Staffer), Kinna McInroe (Waitress), Leyna Nguyen (Herself), Paul Stuart (Yale), Julien Yuen (Terrified Teen)

Notes: Kara’s parents are portrayed by actors with significantly super roles of their own. Helen Slater played Supergirl in the character’s sole big-screen adventure in 1984, while Dean Cain played Superman himself, almost as a side-note to the role of Clark Kent, in the 1990s TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman. Supergirl was developed for TV by the dynamic duo of Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg, who brought Arrow and The Flash to CBS’ sister network, the CW; it was felt that Supergirl was enough of a high-profile character to add her to the CBS schedule rather than the CW. Supergirl proved popular on CBS, winning the series a full-season pickup, though she would eventually migrate to the CW for her second season.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Discovery Season 1 Star Trek

The Vulcan Hello

By theLogBook.com
September 24, 2017

Stardate 1207.2: An uncrewed communications relay at the edge of Federation space suddenly stops working, and the starship U.S.S. Shenzhou is sent to investigate. Captain Philippa Georgiou sends her first officer, Commander Michael Burnham, to investigate an object near a binary star that seems to be deliberately scattering the entire electromagnetic spectrum, including visible wavelengths. Burnham flies a thruster suit toward the unknown object, finding it to be an ancient vessel of some kind. When Burnham lands on the object, her presence triggers a sudden activation of the vessel, and an armed Klingon warrior appears behind her. When the Klingon attacks, Burnham attempts to escape, accidentally impaling the Klingon with his own weapon before slamming into part of the Klingon vessel and tumbling back toward the Shenzhou, unconscious.

Burnham awakens aboard the Shenzhou, rescued by suffering from acute effects of exposure to the radiation emanating from the binary star nearby. She leaves sick bay before her treatment is complete to warn Captain Georgiou of the Klingons’ presence. When Georgiou orders the Shenzhou‘s weapons brought to bear on the object just visited by Burnham, an enormous Klingon ship decloaks just ahead. As Georgiou consults with Starfleet, Burnham seeks the advice of her adoptive father, Ambassador Sarek of Vulcan. Georgiou is steadfast in her desire for a diplomatic solution, but Burnham advises her that the Klingons will only respect a show of strength: a battle worthy of their mettle. When she is unable to convince her Captain of this course of action, Burnham attempts a mutiny, but it’s too late: as the Shenzhou waits alone for reinforcements, an entire Klingon fleet warps into view.

The Klingons have been anticipating the humans’ spreading influence in the galaxy, and T’Kuvma, the leader of the Klingons aboard the ceremonial ship discovered by the Shenzhou, wants to unite all 24 of the Klingons’ disparate houses to attack the Federation before they themselves are attacked. T’Kuvma is annoyed when not all of the Klingons share his zeal…but the Federation ship before him has fallen so easily into the trap, he sees no reason to delay the war he sees as not only inevitable, but prophesied.

teleplay by Bryan Fuller and Akiva Goldsman
story by Bryan Fuller and Akiva Goldsman
directed by David Semel
music by Jeff Russo

Cast: Sonequa Martin-Green (Commander Michael Burnham), Doug Jones (Lt. Commander Saru), Shazad Latif (Lt. Ash Tyler), Anthony Rapp (Lt. Paul Stamets), Mary Wiseman (Cadet Sylvia Tilly), Jason Isaacs (Captain Gabriel Lorca), Michelle Yeoh (Captain Philippa Georgiou), Mary Chieffo (L’Rell), James Frain (Sarek), Chris Obi (T’Kuvma), Maulik Pancholy (Dr. Nambue), Terry Serpico (Admiral Anderson), Sam Vartholomeos (Ensign Danby Connor), Arista Arhin (young Michael Burnham), Emily Coutts (Keyla Detmer), Justin Howell (Torchbearer / Rejac), Javid Iqbal (Voq), Ali Momen (Kamran Grant), Bonnie Morgan (Crepuscula), David Benjamin Tomlinson (Or’eq), Tasia Valenza (Computer Voice), Chris Violette (Britch Weeton), Romaine Waite (Troy Januzzi)

Notes: Stardate 1207.2 equates to May 11th, 2256 – ten years before the first season of the original Star Trek (and 2-3 years after the events depicted in The Cage and the Cage-derived flashback scenes from The Menagerie), and 95 years after These Are The Voyages…, the series finale of Star Trek: Enterprise. As that finale takes place 5 years after the remainder of the fourth season of Enterprise, this may mean that Captain Archer’s last contact with the Klingons (in Affliction and Divergence) was one of the last contacts with the Klingons “a hundred years ago”.

Tasia Valenza, the new Federation computer voice (assuming the role left vacant by the late Majel Barrett Roddenberry), is the only cast member with ties to prior Star Trek: she was a Vulcan would-be Starfleet cadet vying against Wesley Crusher and others for a coveted slot at the Academy in 1988’s Coming Of Age. She also appeared in the 1990s series Space: Above And Beyond.

The Klingons’ ritual scream at the heavens – a warning that a dead warrior is ascending – was first established in Star Trek: The Next Generation (Heart Of Glory, 1988); the concept of a multitude of Klingon “houses” originated in another TNG episode (Sins Of The Father, 1990). Ironically, Burnham’s adoptive brother, Spock, took a similar headlong plunge into danger in a Starfleet thruster suit in 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The original Klingon Torchbearer’s weapon is identified by Burnham’s heads-up display as a bat’leth, though very different in design to the one wielded by Worf in many an episode of TNG; it’s possible that, much like the Torchbearer’s title, this bat’leth is more ornately ceremonial than functional (though that doesn’t prevent it from being deadly).

Credited, but not appearing in, this episode are series regulars Shazad Latif, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, and Jason Isaacs.

The Shenzhou is named for a real family of Chinese spacecraft that had only just started flying the last time there was a Star Trek series on the air.