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Firefly Season 1

Out of Gas

  • By Dave
  • October 25, 2002

FireflyA bleeding Mal collapses onto the deck of Serenity‘s cargo bay, one hand desperately clutching a catalyzer for the ship’s engine. As he struggles through the deserted ship to the engine room, he recalls the circumstances that got him into this predicament: Simon’s birthday party interrupted by an explosion that injured Zoe and damaged both the main and auxiliary life support systems; Kaylee unable to repair the systems because of the blown catalyzer; the ship adrift in empty space; the rest of the crew setting out in shuttles in a desperate effort to find help. He also thinks back to the moments that initially brought his crew together. Zoe, first to join up, initially didn’t take a liking to Wash, but that might have been the moustache. Mal’s first engineer brought about his own unemployment when he brought Kaylee aboard for a quick fling. Inara drives a hard bargain for use of her shuttle, but Mal display his own bargaining skills in getting Jayne to come on board. As Serenity‘s oxygen ticks away, a miracle appears – another ship, with the catalyzer Mal needs. But it’s no great surprise when the miracle comes with a catch.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Tim Minear
directed by David Solomon
music by Greg Edmonson

Guest Cast: Steven Flinn (Captain), Ilia Volok (Markov), Lyle Kanouse (Salesman)

Notes: According to the commentary on the series DVD, the flashbacks to Mal’s purchase of Serenity and initial gathering of the crew take place five years in the past, about one year after the end of the war. This episode features Mal’s opening narration.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Firefly Season 1

Shindig

  • By Dave
  • November 1, 2002

FireflySerenity returns to Persephone in search of work. Simon tries to help River through one of her bouts of erratic behavior. Inara agrees to accompany Atherton Wing, a young noble, to a ball, while Badger approaches Mal with an offer. Sir Warwick Harrow wants some cargo shipped to his holdings offworld on Jiangyin, despite Alliance regulations to the contrary. Badger needs someone of a certain bearing to make contact with the noble – at the very same ball where Wing is asking Inara to remain with him permanently. Mal brings a very excited Kaylee to the party, but his negotiations are interrupted by an argument with Wing. When Wing insults Inara, Mal punches him and thus inadvertently challenges him to a duel with swords. The highly skilled fencer accepts, and Badger sends his men to Serenity to ensure that none of Mal’s crew interfere and somehow damage Badger’s reputation. With only an evening of lessons under his belt, no one gives Mal much of a chance. But Mal isn’t going to go down without a fight – and he doesn’t necessarily promise it’s going to be a fair one.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Jane Espenson
directed by Vern Gillum
music by Greg Edmonson

Guest Cast: Mark A. Sheppard (Badger); Edward Atterton (Atherton Wing); Larry Drake (Sir Warwick Harrow)

Notes: Mal’s prior dealings with Badger, referenced in this episode, took place in the episode Serenity. A new introduction narrated by Mal appears at the beginning of this episode.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Firefly Season 1

Safe

  • By Dave
  • November 8, 2002

FireflySerenity lands on Jiangyin to deliver their cattle cargo. In an effort to ensure things go smoothly, Mal sends Simon and River to take a walk into town while he concludes the deal. This being one of Mal’s ideas, things don’t quite go as planned. Simon manages to insult Kaylee, and while she’s giving him what-for, River wanders off. Mal’s trading partners are wanted for murder; the local law shows up, and the suspects don’t go quietly. In the shootout, Book is wounded. Zoe manages to stabilize him, but he needs a doctor. Unfortunately, Simon and River have been kidnapped by an outlaw community with much the same need. Mal orders Serenity to take off and rendezvous with an Alliance cruiser. The Alliance captain is hesitant to offer aid until Book’s ident card earns him the VIP treatment, for reasons the Shepherd won’t explain. Simon thinks back to the life he left behind in order to find his sister – a lifestyle his parents weren’t willing to endanger – but he fights through the frustration to try to help those in need. But when River starts reading the locals’ minds, they accuse her of witchcraft. And they have an old-fashioned solution for that particular problem.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Drew Greenburg
directed by Michael Grossman
music by Greg Edmonson

Guest Cast: Isabella Hoffman (Megan Tam); William Converse-Roberts (Gabriel Tam); John Thaddeus (Stark); Gary Werntz (Patron)

Notes: Mal contracted to deliver the cattle in Shindig. This episode features Mal’s introductory narration.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Firefly Season 1

Ariel

  • By Dave
  • November 15, 2002

FireflySerenity brings Inara back to Ariel, a planet in the Core Systems, so she can complete some necessary paperwork to maintain her license as a Companion. Mal’s instinct is to stay quiet and stay in orbit until Inara’s ready to be picked up. Things change when River suddenly slashes Jayne with a kitchen knife. Mal confines her to quarters and tells Simon that unless he can keep her in check, Mal will have to rethink their arrangement. So Simon decides to hire the crew for a job – he’ll provide them with the know-how to break into the hospital stores and swipe medicine with considerable value on the frontier, and in exchange the crew will get him and River into a neural diagnostic lab to give Simon a chance to figure out what’s really wrong with his sister. It’s a very clever plan, and the only thing that might screw it up is one of the crew deciding to go freelance. And that might turn out disastrous for everyone. Just because River’s not quite sane doesn’t mean she doesn’t have good reason to fear the Alliance and their men in blue.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Jose Molina
directed by Allan Kroeker
music by Greg Edmonson

Guest Cast: Blake Robbins (Agent McGinnis), Jeff Ricketts (Man of Blue #1), Dennis Cockrum (Man of Blue #2), Tom Virtue (Doctor)

Notes: This episode features Mal’s introductory narration.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Firefly Season 1

Objects in Space

  • By Dave
  • December 13, 2002

FireflyRiver seems to be getting psychic flashes of the crew’s thoughts, thoughts that make her feel isolated from the crew. She has a vision of a branch in the cargo bay – but the branch she’s holding turns out to be one of Jayne’s guns. The crew’s concern about River’s erratic behavior only grows when Kaylee informs them of River’s skill with a gun during the rescue from Niska. Mal tries to figure out what to do about River, not realizing that the ship is being tracked by Jubal Early, a bounty hunter who intends to take the decision out of his hands. Jubal inflitrates the ship, incapacitates Mal and Book, and locks most of the crew in their quarters after threatening Kaylee. He forces Simon to help him look for River, holding the threat of violence against Kaylee over his head. The doctor reluctantly complies, but they have no luck. Eventually, River’s disembodied voice begins to speak to them. She claims to have disappeared, to become one with the ship. In truth, she’s inside Early’s ship, offering to go with Early in exchange for the crew’s safety. Simon refuses to go along with this – but is he staging a rescue, or simply ruining a cunning plan?

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Joss Whedon
directed by Joss Whedon
music by Greg Edmonson

Guest Cast: Richard Brooks (Jubal Early)

Notes: Kaylee observed River’s shooting skills in War Stories. This is the last one-hour episode that Fox broadcast. A brief scene was reshot to explain Inara’s decision to leave Serenity, since Heart of Gold – where she made that choice – was never aired. Whedon restored the original intended version to the DVD version of the episode.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Firefly Season 1

Serenity (Pilot)

  • By Dave
  • December 20, 2002

FireflyIn 2511 AD, humans have long since left Earth to terraform and colonize other worlds. A group of central planets have formed an Alliance and demanded that all other planets join up. Some Independent worlds on the frontier choose to fight instead. At the Battle of Serenity Valley, the Alliance delivers a crushing blow to the Independents; soon after, the Alliance consolidates its control.

Six years later, former Independent Sergeant Malcolm Reynolds captains a transport ship he named Serenity. His fellow Independent vet Zoe is his first mate; her husband Wash pilots the Firefly-class vessel. An almost-but-not-quite-obnoxiously optimistic young engineer named Kaylee keeps Serenity running, while the self-interested mercenary Jayne provides some extra muscle. Inara, a licensed Companion, rents one of the ship’s shuttles; the presence of a highly-respected Companion opens doors for the crew that would otherwise be closed.

Mal and his crew perform an illegal salvage job on a wrecked Alliance ship and travel to Perspehone, expecting to drop off the goods and pick up some passengers to bring in extra cash. Shepherd Book, a clergyman who aims to see life outside his abbey for a while, comes aboard, as does Simon Tam, a young doctor with some very large cargo, and one more passenger named Dobson. The salvage dropoff goes sour, because the would-be buyer has learned that the Alliance has imprinted the goods and thus made them very traceable. Mal is forced to divert course and find an alternate buyer for the goods. When the third passenger turns out to be an Alliance agent who broadcasts their location, that’s bad news. When Simon turns out to be fugitive on the run with some very important cargo, it gets worse. And when Simon’s cargo turns out to be his sister River, the situation threatens to reach entirely new levels of badness. Kaylee is shot, and the doctor will only save her if Mal agrees to help him run. Savage humans called Reavers get Serenity in their sights. And Patience, the only possible buyer of the salvage, has had prior dealings with Mal. She shot him then, and he’s pretty sure she aims to repeat the favor this time around – if everyone else trying to kill or capture the Serenity crew gives her the chance.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Joss Whedon
directed by Joss Whedon
music by Greg Edmonson
main title theme by Joss Whedon

Regular Cast: Nathon Fillion (Mal Reynolds), Gina Torres (Zoe), Alan Tudyk (Wash), Jewel Staite (Kaylee), Adam Baldwin (Jayne Cobb), Morena Baccarin (Inara), Sean Maher (Simon Tam), Summer Glau (River Tam), Ron Glass (Shepherd Book)

Guest Cast: Carlos Jacott (Lawrence Dobson), Mark Sheppard (Badger), Andy Umberger (Dortmunder Captain), Philip Sternberg (unnamed), Eddie Adams (unnamed), Colin Patrick Lynch (Radio Operator), Bonnie Bartlett (Patience)

Notes: This two-hour episode was the original pilot for Firefly. When Fox expressed reservations about it, executive producers Joss Whedon and Tim Minear wrote The Train Job as a replacement introduction to the series. Serenity wound up being the last episode Fox aired. When broadcast on Fox and Sci Fi, episodes end with a diagram of Serenity; on the DVD, they end with an executive producer credit for Joss Whedon and Tim Minear.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Orville, The Season 1

Old Wounds

The Orville2418: Slowly-rising Planetary Union officer Commander Ed Mercer arrives home to find his wife in bed with a blue-skinned alien. Not interested in talking the situation out, he leaves to seek refuge in his career in the stars.

2419: What a difference a year makes – Ed Mercer is still a commander, albeit one whose career has become even more aimless, punctuated by a few incidents of reporting for duty while hung over. (Not all differences are good ones.) Still, to his surprise, and despite his spotty career record, Mercer is offered a promotion to captain and command of the medium exploratory vessel U.S.S. Orville. He raises eyebrows at Planetary Union Central by hand-picking his somewhat uncouth old buddy Gordon Malloy to be the Orville‘s helmsman, but he has no say in the filling of the vacant first officer position, a candidate for which will be selected by the admiralty. But not in his worst nightmares does Mercer expect his new XO to also be his ex-wife.

There’s barely time for a reunion through clenched teeth before the Orville is dispatched to answer a call for aid from a scientific colony. The chief scientist there, Dr. Aronov, introduces them to a device capable of accelerating time; while he’s rattling off a litany of potentially beneficial uses, Mercer’s new security officer, Lt. Alara Kitan, wisely deduces ways it could be weaponized – and that’s why Aronov issued the vague call for help. He believes that if the warlike Krill learn of the time accelerator, they’ll descend upon the colony like a plague of locusts.

But the warlike Krill are already there, planting the seed for Mercer’s first true test as a commander.

Order season 1 on DVD and Blu-RayDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Seth MacFarlane
directed by Jon Favreau
music by Bruce Broughton

The OrvilleCast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Halston Sage (Lt. Alara Kitan), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Victor Garber (Admiral Halsey), Brian George (Dr. Aronov), Joel Swetow (Krill Captain), Patrick Cox (Ogre), Norm MacDonald (voice of Yaphit), Christine Corpuz (Janice Lee), Sean Cook (Derek), Dylan Kenin (Krill Soldier), Dee Bradley Baker (Dr. Jorvik)

The OrvilleNotes: With a writing staff loaded down with veterans of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Voyager (Brannon Braga, Andre Bormanis, David A. Goodman), and Star Trek veterans aplenty among the cast (Penny Johnson Jerald played Kasidy Yates, Captain Sisko’s love interest on Deep Space Nine, while Brian George guest starred as Dr. Bashir’s estranged father on the same series), a ship – with physical filming models no less! – designed by Andrew Probert, and diehard TNG fan Seth MacFarlane creating and starring, it can’t possibly be a secret to anyone at the end of the first hour that The Orville is both an homage and spoof of Star Trek: TNG. McFarlane, Braga and Goodman also collaborated on the 21st century relaunch of Cosmos, while Bormanis worked on National Geographic’s Mars series. Brian George and Dee Bradley Baker are also voice actors with many a role in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Orville, The Season 1

Command Performance

The OrvilleThe Orville answers a distress call from a fellow Planetary Union ship, but fears of a Krill attack pale in Captain Ed Mercer’s mind to the revelation that his parents are aboard the victimized vessel. Ed and Kelly take a shuttle over to the ship, leaving Alara in command. (Bortus is on leave, hatching an egg.) But the attacked ship suddenly fades away, replaced by a buoy capable of generating a holographic image of that ship. Ed and Kelly’s molecules have been transmitted into Calivon space, a civilization not exactly on friendly terms with the Union, where they’re horrified to find they’ve been trapped in a replica of their old apartment, and are even more horrified to learn that this replica is part of a vast zoo of imprisoned living creatures with little hope of escape. In over her head, Alara receives orders from a Union Admiral: give up the search for the Orville’s Captain and First Officer, and return to Earth. She has to weigh the damage to her career against the damage to her standing among the crew as she decides whether to obey or disobey those orders.

Order season 1 on DVD and Blu-RayDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Seth MacFarlane
directed by Robert Duncan McNeill
music by John Debney

The OrvilleCast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Halston Sage (Lt. Alara Kitan), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Chad L. Coleman (Klyden), Jeffrey Tambor (Ben Mercer), Holland Taylor (Jeannie Mercer), Larry Joe Campbell (Chief Newton), Ron Canada (Admiral Tucker), Brett Rickaby (Lurenek), J.D. Cullum (Calivon Zoo Administrator), Jerry O’Donnell (Bleriot Captain), Andrew Bering (Technician Jennings), Mike Gray (Ensign Parker), Alaina Fleming (Technician Reed), Jeremy Guskin (Furry Alien), Maxwell Hurlburt (Greenish Alien), George Tsai (Shuttle Bay Officer #1), Ryan Dietz (Calivon Official #1), Shannon McClung (Calivon Official #2), Sarah Buehler (Calivon Mother), Armen Nahapetian (Calivon Child)

The OrvilleNotes: Marvin V. Rush, former director of photography on the 1990s Star Trek spinoffs, joins The Orville in the same capacity with this episode, as does ’90s Trek camera operator Joe Chess. Guest stars Ron Canada and J.D. Cullum have both appeared on some of those Trek spinoffs: Canada guest starred on TNG, Deep Space Nine and Voyager (as well as a Babylon 5 guest shot), while Cullum appeared as Toral, bastard son of Duras, in TNG’s Redemption Part I and Part II in 1991. And of course, director Robert Duncan McNeill is an old hand at space travel, having played Lt. Tom Paris in all seven seasons of Star Trek: Voyager before moving on to a career of producing and directing.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Orville, The Season 1

About A Girl

The OrvilleBortus and his partner, Klyden, are dismayed when their egg hatches, revealing a true rarity: a female Moclan baby. The traditions of their world demand that the baby’s gender be surgically altered to male, but Dr. Finn refuses to perform the operation on ethical grounds. Bortus tries to convince Captain Mercer to override Dr. Finn’s decision, but he too refuses. With his shipmates continually trying to change his mind about the operation (which Bortus reads as them trying to force their cultures’ values on him), Bortus feels he has no choice but to contact the Moclan homeworld and ask for assistance. Shortly before that assistance arrives in the form of a large (and armed) Moclan ship, Malloy and LaMarr finally get through to Bortus by introducing him to the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. With his own people now present and ready to take charge of the situation, Bortus now agrees that the operation is unethical…and finds that his whole world (including Klyden) is now against him.

Order season 1 on DVD and Blu-RayDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Seth MacFarlane
directed by Brannon Braga
music by Joel McNeely

The OrvilleCast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Halston Sage (Lt. Alara Kitan), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Chad L. Coleman (Klyden), Deobia Oparei (Captain Vorak), David Barrera (Vasquez), Rena Owen (Heveena), Lamont Thompson (Kaybrak), Jonathan Adams (Moclan Arbitrator), Antonio D. Charity (Advocate Kagus), Norm MacDonald (voice of Yaphit), D. Elliot Woods (Moclan Council Foreman), Rico E. Anderson (Moclan Doctor), Julius Sharpe (Reptilian Alien)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Orville, The Season 1

If The Stars Should Appear

The OrvilleA routine – actually, boring – star-mapping mission is interrupted by the discovery of a massive artificial structure in space, adrift but falling into the gravity well of a nearby star. Ed, Kelly, Dr. Finn, Alara and Isaac board the ship, and are left speechless by its sheer scale. Artificial walkways lead to a naturalistic setting with human inhabitants, and Ed quickly learns that they have no idea where they really are, or what fate awaits them. Word of the arrival of the strangely-dressed people from the Orville spreads, and Kelly and Alara are accosted by thuggish uniformed security guards; Kelly is taken into custody and interrogated, while Alara is shot and left for dead. Ed, Dr. Finn and Isaac are introduced to a group of quiet revolutionaries, who do believe that there’s more out there than the religious rule of law that keeps most of the humans from questioning anything about their existence. Ed is determined to reveal the truth to everyone, even if it means their primitive society will fall into disarray.

Order season 1 on DVD and Blu-RayDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Seth MacFarlane
directed by James L. Conway
music by Joel McNeely

The OrvilleCast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Halston Sage (Lt. Alara Kitan), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Chad L. Coleman (Klyden), Larry Joe Campbell (Chief Newton), Robert Knepper (Hamelac), James Morrison (Kemka), Max Burkholder (Tomilin), Norm MacDonald (voice of Yaphit), Liam Neeson (Jahavus Dorahl), Rachael MacFarlane (Computer Voice), Julie Mitchell (Woman), Kane Lieu (Security Station Officer), Casey Sander (Druyan Captain), David Hutchison (Alien Man), Michael Duisenberg (Uniformed Man #1), Derek Graf (Uniformed Man #2), Eddie Davenport (Guard #1), Justice Hedenberg (Dissident)

The OrvilleNotes: This episode of The Orville, like most others, has just a few connections to classic sci-fi. Uncredited on screen but unmistakable once he begins speaking, Liam Neeson plays the generational ship’s captain. Though he’s now associated with present-day action thrillers, Neeson has played characters who, to cite just one example, tried to restore peace and justice to the galaxy. James L. Conway is a veteran director of the Star Trek franchise, with his work stretching from the first season of TNG to one of the final episodes of Enterprise, with frequent stops at Deep Space Nine and Voyager along the way. Robert Knepper also appeared on TNG as well as Voyager. James Morrison was a regular as Col. McQueen on Fox’s ’90s space opera Space: Above And Beyond. In homages more scientific than fictional, the colony ship Druyan is named after Ann Druyan, wife of the late Carl Sagan and co-writer of both the original and modern iterations of the TV series Cosmos. (Seth MacFarlane, incidentally, produced the 21st century revival; the original series premiered exactly 37 years to the day before this episode of The Orville.) And finally, the concept of a generational ship falling toward a star, its inhabitants blissfully unaware that they’re aboard a space vessel, complete with a religion that forbids knowledge of their true whereabouts, bears more than a passing resemblance to the plot of the pilot episode of Harlan Ellison’s brilliantly conceived (but crappily produced) early 1970s sci-fi series, The Starlost.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Gifted, The Season 1

eXposed

The GiftedPolice squad cars pursue a young woman in Atlanta, only to lose track of her when she opens a glowing portal out of nowhere with her bare hands, leaping through it. She emerges through another portal in an abandoned building, and finds herself surrounded by others – others like herself. Police converge on the building, and after a fierce fight between police revolvers and powers almost beyond human comprehension, two of the suspects are taken into custody, while two of the cops are killed.

Teenager Lauren Strucker’s socially awkward younger brother Andy sneaks out of the house to accompany her to a school dance. When he’s picked on and tortured by the school bullies, Andy goes into a rage, unleashing an enormous amount of energy that almost brings the walls of the school down. Lauren, aware of his powers, drags Andy out of the school and races home. The incident has already made the news, attracting federal attention as America debates taking tougher measures to detect and contain mutants among the population. As Lauren explains to her mother that she and Andy have latent mutant powers, there’s a knock at the door. But it’s not the police, or indeed anyone with even the slightest respect for civil rights. Sentinel Services wages a secret war against the mutant populace. Andy again unleashes his powers to help his family escape. The Struckers are on the run.

This poses a serious dilemma for Reed Strucker, an attorney who has prosecuted cases involving mutants in the past…but he’s also in a very good position to know about the underground network that the mutants have built to protect themselves. Now he has to depend on the people he once helped to hunt down to save his children and his wife…and even if he can convince the mutants to help, it may not be enough to save Reed Strucker himself.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Matt Nix
based on the X-Men comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
directed by Bryan Singer
music by John Ottman

The GiftedCast: Stephen Moyer (Reed Strucker), Amy Acker (Caitlin Strucker), Sean Teale (Marcos Diaz / Eclipse), Natalie Alyn Lind (Lauren Strucker), Percy Hynes White (Andy Strucker), Coby Bell (Jace Turner), Jamie Ching (Clarice Fong / Blink), Blair Redford (John Proudstar / Thunderbird), Emma Dumont (Lorna Dane / Polaris), Toks Olagundove (Carla Jackson), Dale Godboldo (Ted Baird), Steffan Argus (Jack), Pierce Foster Bailey (Trevor), Giovanni DeVito (Dax), Billy Blair (Truck Driver), Dinarte de Freitas (Pedro), Dalton Gray (Jake), Josh Henry (Ben), Roscoe Johnson (Guard), Cynthia Jackson (Waitress), Jason Jamal Ligon (Side-Eye), Hayley Lovitt (Sage), Joe Nemmers (Agent Weeks), Jeff Daniel Phillips (Fade), Scott Parks (Passenger Cop), Jermaine Rivers (Shatter), Matthew Tompkins (Cal Jameson), Stan Lee (Stan Lee)

The GiftedObligatory Stan Lee cameo: Lee walks out of the bar, pausing in the doorway as he passes Marcos, who is en route to meet with Reed Strucker. Hi, Stan!

Notes: Though the X-Men are mentioned briefly, The Gifted presents a more small-scale look at the plight of mutants in America. The series is not based upon a particular comic, but was created by Matt Nix (creator and showrunner of the hit spy series Burn Notice) as a story taking place in the X-Men’s “universe”. Since the show is produced by 20th Century Fox (as opposed to Disney/ABC), The Gifted may share universes with that studio’s X-Men films, but is not part of the continuity of the bulk of Marvel’s Disney-produced film and TV output.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Orville, The Season 1

Pria

The OrvilleThe Orville receives a garbled distress call, apparently from a passing comet on a death dive into a nearby star. Ed leads a shuttle mission to rescue the sender of the distress call, the sole occupant of a ship crashed on the comet’s surface, but the close proximity of the star nearly makes it a one-way trip. He returns to the Orville with Pria Levesque, the captain of the crashed mining ship, though something about her story bothers Kelly. A check of the doomed ship’s manifest reveals no one aboard named Pria, but Ed is unconvinced that anything’s wrong. By the time enough evidence piles up to convince Ed otherwise, it’s too late – Pria is in control of the Orville.

Order season 1 on DVD and Blu-RayDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Seth MacFarlane
directed by Jonathan Frakes
music by John Debney

The OrvilleCast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Halston Sage (Lt. Alara Kitan), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Charlize Theron (Captain Pria Levesque), Larry Joe Campbell (Chief Newton), Norm MacDonald (voice of Yaphit), Rachael MacFarlane (Computer Voice)

The OrvilleNotes: For the second time, a Star Trek veteran is behind the camera for an episode of The Orville (former Star Trek: The Next Generation star-turned-director Jonathan “Riker” Frakes), and the show boasts an A-list movie actor, though unlike Liam Neeson’s appearance earlier, Charlize Theron’s appearance was heavily promoted in the week before air.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Gifted, The Season 1

rX

The GiftedStranded when Clarice is unable to keep the escape portal open, Reed Strucker is now in the hands of Sentinel Services. He demands to see an attorney, but it is clear that, simply by associating with mutants, he has been labeled a threat and relieved of any and all civil rights. If Sentinel Services can’t find Strucker’s children, they’re not above reeling in other family members who have no idea what’s going on.

Left physically exhausted by holding the portal open for so long, Clarice is unable to control random outbursts of her ability. Portals open at random to the street outside, where police are preparing to mount an assault on the mutants’ headquarters; Lauren Strucker has to use her ability to close off Clarice’s unintentional portals. When Lauren is exhausted, Andy directs his rage-fueled ability at the police outside, but this makes things worse: as with his school before, the building in which the mutants are taking shelter is no longer safe or stable. Clarice is injured and her unconscious random portal opening becomes a dangerous rapid-fire exercise in not accidentally falling through to an unknown location. Caitlin Strucker, a nurse before going on the run with her children, enlists Marco’s help to retrieve a drug that can stabilize Clarice, but their plan only draws more attention to what is seen as a growing mutant threat.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Matt Nix
based on the X-Men comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
directed by Len Wiseman
music by John Ottman & David Buckley

The GiftedCast: Stephen Moyer (Reed Strucker), Amy Acker (Caitlin Strucker), Sean Teale (Marcos Diaz / Eclipse), Natalie Alyn Lind (Lauren Strucker), Percy Hynes White (Andy Strucker), Coby Bell (Jace Turner), Jamie Ching (Clarice Fong / Blink), Blair Redford (John Proudstar / Thunderbird), Emma Dumont (Lorna Dane / Polaris), Garret Dillahunt (Dr. Roderick Campbell), Elena Satine (Dreamer), Folake Olowofoyeku (Scar), Chris Butler (Dr. Watkins), Sharon Gless (Ellen Strucker), Christian Adam (Obnoxious Guy #1), Aerli Austen (Amber), DAve Blamy (Father), Jacinte Blankenship (Mutant Mom), Christabelle Rose Chapman (Obnoxious Girl), Ava Culpepper (Daughter), Tony Demil (Guard #2), Jordan Eli (Young Boy), Katelyn Farrugia (Nurse), Dinarte de Freitas (Pedro), Monique Grant (Guard #1), Barbara Hawkins-Scott (Desk Nurse), Josh Henry (Ben), Jason Jamal Ligon (Side-Eye), Hayley Lovitt (Sage)

The GiftedNotes: It’s a Burn Notice reunion! The Gifted showrunner Matt Nix was also creator of the hit spy series Burn Notice, which starred former Cagney & Lacey star Sharon Gless as Michael Westen’s mother; here she plays Reed Strucker’s mother. Coby Bell, who joined Burn Notice in its third season as Jesse Porter, is a regular on The Gifted.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Orville, The Season 1

Krill

The OrvilleFor the third time in a month, a far-flung Union colony is under Krill attack, and the Orville answers the distress call despite being badly outgunned by the Krill cruiser it finds itself facing. But thanks to a desperate last-ditch maneuver ordered by Captain Mercer, not only does the Orville emerge victorious, but it retrieves an intact Krill shuttle from the resulting wreckage, giving Union engineers a unique chance to analyze Krill technology. But a Union admiral has other plans for the shuttle: Mercer and helmsman Gordon Malloy will assume Krill disguise and infiltrate the nearest Krill cruiser, trying to obtain a copy of the Krill’s holy book, as their religion dictates their drive for war. The infiltration goes smoothly enough, but when Mercer and Malloy discover that this cruiser is on a mission to finish the job left undone by the ship destroyed by the Orville, things become much deadlier.

Order season 1 on DVD and Blu-RayDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by David A. Goodman
directed by Jon Cassar
music by Joel McNeely

The OrvilleCast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Halston Sage (Lt. Alara Kitan), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Kelly Hu (Admiral Ozawa), Michaela McManus (Teleya), Dylan Kenin (Captain Haros), James Horan (Sazeron), Michael Dempsey (Mining Chief Harry Leidecker), Makabe Ganey (Coja), Gabriella Graves (Krill Girl Student), Caleb Brown (Krill Boy Student), Tim Neff (Krill Soldier), Brandon Melendy (Krill Guard), Jordan Lane Shappell (Krill Helmsman), Fred Tatasciore (Krill Voice)

The OrvilleNotes: James Horan is the latest Star Trek veteran drafted back into the service of The Orville, having appeared in TNG (Suspicions, Descent Part II), DS9 (In Purgatory’s Shadow), Voyager (Fair Trade), and throughout the run of Enterprise as the “Humanoid Figure” issuing orders from the future to Silik from the pilot episode forward.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Orville, The Season 1

Majority Rule

The OrvilleThe Orville is assigned to retrieve a team of undercover Union cultural anthropologists from the earthlike world Sargus IV; the team has been out of contact for some time. Kelly, Alara, Dr. Finn and navigator Lt. John LaMarr arrive on Sargus IV and obtain badges, mandated by law, allowing anyone to “upvote” or “downvote” them. LaMarr makes the mistake of doing a somewhat lewd dance near a statue of a historical figure held in high regard. Citizens nearby capture video of this with their phones and upload it to the “Master Feed”, a constant stream of information, and his badge begins registering hundreds of thousands of downvotes. At one million downvotes, LaMarr is arrested and forced to mount an “apology tour”, appearing on live broadcasts to apologize for his actions in the hopes that sympathetic viewers will upvote him out of trouble. At ten million downvotes, however, a citizen is “corrected” via lobotomy. Dr. Finn discovers that this was the fate of the only surviving anthropologist – and LaMarr’s lack of social graces don’t promise much of a future for him.

Order season 1 on DVD and Blu-RayDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Seth MacFarlane
directed by Tucker Gates
music by John Debney

The OrvilleCast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Halston Sage (Lt. Alara Kitan), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Giorgia Whigham (Lysella), Steven Culp (Willks), Ron Canada (Admiral Tucker), Catherine Shu (Hoshel), John Viener (Man Spilling Coffee), Roy Abramsohn (Morning Host), Loren Lester (Lewis), Barry Livingston (Tom), Mike Estes (Guard #1), Michael Shen (Man in Suit), Heather Brooker (Mother), London Fuller (Little Girl #1), Gwen Van Dam (Grandmother), Alec Manley Wilson (Man #1), Matthew Spencer (Man #2), Curtis Kingsley (Man #3), Denell Johnson (Man #4), Danny Smith (Vendor), Merrick McCartha (Scientist), Matt Kaminsky (Interviewer), Penny Peyser (Customer), Jesse Egan (Pedestrian), Corey Mendell Parker (Policeman #1), Travis Goodman (Detention Guard), Anne Judson-Yeager (Carris), Kimberly Fox (Semmla), Daniel Robaire (Man in Cap)

The OrvilleNotes: There are some similarities between this episode of The Orville and a 1985 Doctor Who story, Vengeance On Varos, which also involved up or down votes, though only for the governor of a human colony each time he proposed changes to the law. The difference between 1985 and 2017 is, of course, the presence of omni-present (and always-judgemental) social media. Steven Culp is the latest Star Trek veteran to transfer to the Orville; he played the recurring role of MACO leader Major Hayes in the third season of Star Trek: Enterprise.

LogBook entry by Earl Green