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Season 3 Stargate Atlantis

First Strike

Stargate AtlantisThe starship Apollo arrives from Earth, and Colonel Ellis immediately pulls Dr. Weir, Colonel Sheppard and Rodney into a closed-doors briefing. Recent surveillance flybys of the Replicators’ planet have revealed that they’re building a fleet – and Ellis has arrived with order from Stargate Command to mount a first strike and take that fleet out before it can move against Atlantis or Earth. The Apollo’s mission appears to be a success, hitting the massive shipyards on the Replicator planet with nuclear weapons, but a circular satelite with a stargate at its center emerges from hyperspace in a geosynchoronous orbit above Atlantis, firing a beam that begins to weaken the city’s shields. As Rodney hatches a plan to buy more time by submerging the city again – the same way the Ancients did to escape the Wraith – Dr. Weir begins to question her future, worried that in every crisis, her decisions are second-guessed by the military. Sheppard and McCay finally realize that Atlantis needs to rise again and find a new home planet, if the city has enough power left.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Martin Gero
directed by Martin Wood
music by Joel Goldsmith and Neil Acree

Guest Cast: Michael Beach (Colonel Ellis), Jewel Staite (Dr. Kelly), Kavan Smith (Major Lorne), David Nykl (Dr. Zelenka), David Odgen Stiers (Oberoth), Chuck Campbell (Technician), Heather Doerksen (Apollo Tech), Donna Soares (Coleman), Jay Williams (Adams)

Notes: Jewel Staite previously appeared as the “devolved” Wraith Ellia in season 2’s Instinct, and is better known as Kaylee from Joss Whedon’s series Firefly. This marks her first appearance as Dr. Kelly, who would become a regular character in Atlantis’ fourth season. The Ancients’ undersea drilling station was introduced just two episodes prior, in Submersion. This episode also marked Torri Higginson’s last appearance as a member of the show’s regular cast.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Sarah Jane Adventures Season 1

Revenge Of The Slitheen – Part 1

The Sarah Jane AdventuresWhen the school year begins anew, Maria Jackson returns to class with Luke, the alien boy adopted by Sarah Jane, and their new friend Clyde. But something’s just not right at their school – a foul smell pervades the entire campus, lunch is moldy, and the flatulent faculty simply tell the offended students to “pick out the bad bits”. Worse yet, Clyde quickly discovers that bringing a packed lunch simply isn’t an option. When Luke demonstrates an aptitude for science, his science teacher begins to pick his brain for solutions to a massive electrical system that, while it’s well beyond current human technology, has a fatal flaw. Sarah begins to investigate the company that constructed the school’s new technology center, and sends Maria and Luke to look it over for themselves – where they find a plot to destroy the Earth.

Season 1 Regular Cast: Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Yasmin Paige (Maria Jackson), Tommy Knight (Luke), Daniel Anthony (Clyde)

Get the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Gareth Roberts
directed by Alice Troughton
music by Sam Watts / title music by Murray Gold

Guest Cast: Joseph Millson (Alan Jackson), Juliet Cowan (Chrissie Jackson), Alexander Armstrong (Mr. Smith), Martyn Ellis (Blakeman), Ian Midlane (Jeffrey), Pamela Merrick (Wendy), Imogen Bain (Janine), Anton Thompson McCormick (Carl), Jimmy Vee (Carl Slitheen), Paul Kasey (Jeffrey / Blakeman / Janine Slitheen)

Notes: Alice Troughton, who is still no relation to second Doctor Patrick Troughton, is the first director to helm episodes of the new Doctor Who as well as Torchwood and the Sarah Jane Adventures. Although Mr. Smith is an otherworldly computer, it appears to rely on completely earthly power sources. Lachelle Carl has played an American newscaster on numerous occasions in Doctor Who, including – ironically – Aliens Of London, the first appearance of the Slitheen. The character of Kelsey, from Invasion Of The Bane, was replaced in the weekly series by Clyde.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 4 Stargate Stargate Atlantis

Adrift

Stargate AtlantisWith the city roaring through deep space after its escape from the ocean planet, Rodney races to shut down systems that aren’t helping Atlantis during flight – but are draining its power. The city’s new chief medical officer, Dr. Jennifer Keller, is fighting to save the life of Dr. Weir, critically injured during the city’s takeoff, but it quickly becomes clear that even if she’s kept alive, Dr. Weir may never be the same again. The Atlantis expedition and its commander are lost in deep space – and with an asteroid belt in the way and the city losing drive power, deep trouble too. Running out of medical solutions, Dr. Keller comes up with an idea to reactivate the nanites left in Weir’s body by the replicators, and Rodney thinks he can reprogram them to repair her injuries – but Sheppard refuses to okay the plan, worried that the replicators will be able to track the crippled city by detecting the nanites. Rodney and Keller implement the plan anyway, but even Weir herself isn’t thrilled with the results. And at the Midway space station connecting the Milky Way and Pegasus stargate networks, Colonel Samantha Carter receives word that contact has been lost with Atlantis. With Dr. Lee of the SGC, also at Midway, she begins trying to locate the wayward city…

Season 4 Regular Cast: Joe Flanigan (Major John Sheppard), Amanda Tapping (Colonel Samantha Carter), Rachel Luttrell (Teyla), Jason Momoa (Ronon Dex), David Hewlett (Dr. Rodney McKay)

Order the DVDswritten by Martin Gero
directed by Martin Wood
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Torri Higginson (Dr. Elizabeth Weir), Jewel Staite (Dr. Keller), David Nykl (Dr. Zelenka), Michael Beach (Colonel Ellis), Bill Dow (Dr. Lee), Chuck Campbell (Technician),
Linda Ko (Head Nurse), Yee Jee Tso (Technician)

Notes: Rodney mentions that he was terrible at the video game Asteroids; obviously he can’t access Phosphor Dot Fossils from the Pegasus Galaxy, we would’ve been happy to help. Yee Jee Tso, the actor portraying the technician who alerts Sheppard to the asteroid belt, is best known in SF circles for his one-off stint as Chang Lee, one of the eighth Doctor Who‘s only TV companions.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Doctor Who New Series Season 04

Partners In Crime

Doctor WhoOn Earth in 2008, the Doctor investigates a company called Adipose Industries, the makers of a diet pill that magically makes the fat “walk away,” suspecting that there’s something sinister to their miracle cure for obesity. Little does he know that his friend, former runaway bride Donna Noble, is also at Adipose, having just taken a job in health & safety. Also realizing that Adipose’s claims are too good to be true, Donna begins her own investigation. Donna’s family has criticized her for not sticking to any one job for any length of time since the mysterious circumstances around her not getting married, but what she can’t explain to them is that she regrets not taking the Doctor up on his offer of travel in the TARDIS – and hopes she’ll see him again someday. As she and the Doctor independently snoop around Adipose, they both learn of the more sinister agenda behind the miracle diet pill – and each other’s presence. Just as quickly, they’re both on the run, with Donna leaving no doubt that she expects to be off with the Doctor once the current crisis is over. There’s just one problem: she’s assuming that they’ll both survive the wrath of the mysterious Mrs. Foster once the secret of Adipose is out.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Russell T. Davies
directed by James Strong
music by Murray Gold

Cast: David Tennant (The Doctor), Catherine Tate (Donna Noble), Billie Piper (Rose Tyler), Sarah Lancashire (Miss Foster), Bernard Cribbins (Wilfred Mott), Jacqueline King (Sylvia Noble), Verona Joseph (Penny Carter), Jessica Gunning (Stacey Harris), Martin Ball (Roger Davey), Rachid Sabitri (Craig Staniland), Chandra Ruegg (Clare Pope), Sue Kelvin (Suzette Chambers), Jonathan Stratt (Taxi Driver)

Notes: The episode carries a dedication to Howard Attfield, the late actor who played the role of Donna’s father in The Runaway Bride. He originally shot some scenes for Partners In Crime, but upon his death, the bulk of his dialogue was rewritten for Donna’s grandfather, played by Bernard Cribbins. According to the show’s producers, Donna’s grandfather is indeed the spirited but perhaps slightly unhinged newsstand man encountered by the Doctor (and also played by Cribbins) in Voyage Of The Damned. The Doctor’s observation about how things can come and go through a catflap are nearly identical to a similar comment his seventh incarnation made in 1989’s Survival – a story whose working title was Catflap.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Situation Vacant

Doctor Who: Situation VacantA classified ad is placed, seeking qualified applicants for companions to a traveler in time and space. The Doctor arrives for the final interviews, finding four people with wildly varying personalities and skills. When a crisis unfolds at a gathering of scientists, the Doctor’s potential new companions have their work cut out for them – and so does the Doctor himself, for he wasn’t the one who placed the ad to begin with.

Order this CDwritten by Eddie Robson
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Jamie Robertson

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), James Bachman (Hugh Bainbridge), Shelley Conn (Asha Qureshi), Joe Thomas (Theo Lawson), Niky Wardley (Juliet Walsh), Sabina Franklyn (Wanda Rothman), Tony Millan (Leonard Pallister), Joanna Kanska (Rachel), Barnaby Edwards (Rafshaw)

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
7th Doctor Doctor Who Lost Stories

Crime Of The Century

Doctor Who: Thin IceThe Doctor pays a visit to Markus Creevy’s daughter, Raine, 23 years after her birth. Markus has largely gotten out of organized crime, but despite his best efforts to ensure Raine has an education, she has turned her considerable intelligence toward such pursuits as safecracking. She’s been stealing some very specific items for an unknown client who pays very well; it turns out that the Doctor is the mystery benefactor who’s been engaging her services. He needs the Creevys to help him do one last “job” – and the stakes are high: the survival of humanity itself. An old enemy of the Doctor and Markus is trying to tip the balance of the Cold War by inviting alien mercenaries called the Metatraxi to demonstrate their gift for warfare. But the Metatraxi are losing track of which humans they’ve been hired to assist or attack. The Doctor has an ace up his sleeve to keep the Metatraxi busy…

Order this CDwritten by Andrew Cartmel
directed by Ken Bentley
music by Simon Robinson

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Beth Chalmers (Raine Creevy), Ricky Groves (Markus Creevy), Derek Carlyle (Nikitin / Parvez), John Albasiny (Colonel Felnikov / Waiter), John Banks (Metatraxi / Walnuf), Chris Porter (Sayf Udeen / Valentin)

Notes: In the original plan for Doctor Who’s 1990 season, Crime Of The Century would have been the third story, introducing Raine (originally named Kat Tollinger according to some sources) as Markus’ daughter, with Markus being envisioned as a recurring earthbound ally for the Doctor, a la the Brigadier (and anticipating new series characters like Jackie Tyler, Wilfred Mott and Craig). This story would not have featured Ace in its original form.

Timeline: after Thin Ice and before Animal

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
Phase II / New Voyages Star Trek Star Trek Fan Films

Going Boldly

Star Trek: Phase II

This is an episode of a fan-made series whose storyline may be invalidated by later official studio productions.

Stardate not given: Following a mission that ended with the loss of several crew members, the Enterprise is recalled to Starbase 4, where Starfleet gives the ship a new set of experimental warp engines and a few other modifications. The crew gets a chance to grieve for their fallen comrades, and Kirk gets the Enterprise’s new orders.

Watch Itwriter not credited
director not credited
music by Fred Steiner and James Horner

Star Trek Phase IICast: Brian Gross (Captain Kirk), Brandon Stacy (Mr. Spock), John Kelly (Dr. McCoy), Charles Root (Mr. Scott), Jasmine Pierce (Lt. Uhura), Jonathan Zungre (Chekov), Bobby Quinn Rice (Ensign Peter Kirk), Wayne Johnson (Ensign Walking Bear), Chris Doohan (Lt. Arex), Jay Storey (Kyle)

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Doctor Who New Series Season 07

The Snowmen

Doctor WhoForlorn and bitter after the unexpected departure of Amy and Rory, the Doctor has retreated into hiding in Victorian London – actually, a cloud hovering above it – refusing to lift a finger to alter the destiny of the world. The human race is on its own, at least until a barmaid named Clara draws the Doctor’s attention to snowmen that seem to appear out of nowhere, during one of the Time Lord’s infrequent visits to London. Despite encountering Strax the Sontaran and the Silurian Madame Vastra, Clara unflinchingly asks for the Doctor’s help when she learns that the snowmen are made of snow that responds to the deepest fears of those around them. The Doctor follows Clara to her second job – as a governess taking care of the children at a mansion in the heart of London – and finds that something else lurks beneath a frozen pond on the estate. The mysterious Dr. Simeon is determined to claim it for himself, and he seems to command the slowly growing army of snowmen. But who is Simeon working for – and is all of the mystery finally enough to draw the Doctor out of his melancholy?

Order the DVDwritten by Steven Moffat
directed by Saul Metzstein
music by Murray Gold

Cast: Matt Smith (The Doctor), Jenna-Louise Coleman (Clara), Tom Ward (Captain Latimer), Richard E. Grant (Dr. Simeon), Catrin Stewart (Jenny), Neve McIntosh (Madame Vastra), Dan Starkey (Strax), Joseph Darcey-Alden (Digby), Ellie Darcey-Alden (Francesca), Liz White (Alice), Jim Conway (Uncle Josh), Cameron Strefford (Walter), Annabelle Dowler (Walter’s Mother), Ben Addis (Bob Chilcott), Sophie Miller-Sheen (Clara’s Friend), Daniel Hyde (Lead Workman), Ian McKellen (voice of the Great Intelligence), Juliet Cadzow (voice of the Ice Governess)

Doctor WhoNotes: The second Doctor encountered the Great Intelligence in Tibet, 1935, and again in the London Underground in the late 1960s. By showing the Intelligence a lunchbox with a map of the Underground, the eleventh Doctor could well be ensuring that the disembodied being well attempt its fateful takeover of the London subway system (an incursion which leads to the Doctor’s first meeting with Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart, later promoted to Brigadier). The Intelligence’s usual minions, robotic Yeti, do not appear in this episode. A 1995 fan film, Downtime (referenced once already this season), depicts a third attempt by the Great Intelligence to gain a foothold on Earth via the Yeti. Clara first appeared in the season premiere, Asylum Of The Daleks. Doctor WhoGuest star Richard E. Grant was the ninth Doctor in an animated alternate universe in 2003’s Scream Of The Shalka (a web-based story that, while produced by the BBC’s interactive wing, has generally been relegated to the “unofficial” column), but is much better known for Withnail & I, in which he co-starred with Paul McGann. This episode debuts a new TARDIS interior (the second major rethink of the vehicle’s console room in Matt Smith’s era) and a new title sequence, only the third time in the show’s history that a new title sequence has premiered in the middle of a season (the other two occasions were the late-in-the-season transition from the fifth to sixth Doctor, and Patrick Troughton inheriting the William Hartnell titles for several episodes). The Doctor now says he is over a thousand years old, which lines up with the unofficial pre-publicity line that hundreds of years of isolation may have elapsed for him since The Angels Take Manhattan.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Mars Season 1

Power

Mars2037: Four years after the discovery of a suitable place to build the first human settlement on Mars, the base has expanded rapidly, and a second spacecraft with its own crew has joined Hana Seung’s expedition there. Medical, lab, and hydroponic facilities have been set up, though it’s the latter that proves the most worrisome – plants, the key to a sustainable food supply that doesn’t rely on resupply from Earth, are not growing at the expected rates. A third ship arrives with an even larger crew of new Mars colonists, including a supervisor to spearhead even further expansion. Her husband, a hydroponic expert, takes some of Javier’s workload off of him, but seems distant and obsessed with his work. But these new settlers have arrived just in time for trouble.

Download this episode via Amazonteleplay by Ben Young Mason and Paul Solet
story by Ben Young Mason
based on the book “How We’ll Live On Mars” by Stephen Petranek
directed by Everardo Gout
music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis

MarsCast: Jihae (Hana Seung / Joon Seung), Alberto Ammann (Javier Delgado), Clementine Poidatz (Amelie Durand), Anamaria Marinca (Marta Kamen), Sammi Rotibi (Robert Foucalt), Cosima Shaw (Dr. Leslie Richardson), Olivier Martinez (Ed Grann), John Light (Dr. Paul Richardson), Nick Wittman (Oliver), Antoinette Fekete (Sam), Kata Sarbo (Ava Macon), Paul Solet (Cygnus Pilot), Karen Gagnon (ORB Solutions Senior Board Member), Rebecca Emekandoko (Joon’s Assistant)

Notes: This isn’t Cosima Shaw’s first struggle to survive on Mars – she was one of the crew members of Bowie Base One in the 2009 Doctor Who episode The Waters Of Mars.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Doctor Who New Series Season 10

The Pilot

Doctor WhoBill Potts works in the university cafeteria, and though she’s not taking his classes, she attends lectures by a mysteriously tenured professor known only as the Doctor. He’s as likely to lecture on poetry as on physics, and seems to know a little bit about everything – a lot, actually. He’s also very observant, and knows that Bill isn’t one of his students, and offers to tutor her anyway.

Bill catches the eye of a fellow student named Heather, though their conversations never seem to go where expected. Heather is preoccupied with a puddle of standing water which has the audacity to exist in a fenced-in concrete area where there has been no rain for days. Bill relates this to the Doctor, who is suddenly very curious about the puddle, and the scorch marks surrounding it on the concrete: the telltale sign of a recently landed spacecraft. The next time Bill sees Heather, the girl is drenched in an unending torrent of water, has dead eyes, can only repeat what Bill says, and seems to be following her obsessively. Bill races into the Doctor’s office to get away from her, and the Doctor (with Nardole still in tow) whisks her away in the TARDIS. But wherever they go in time and space, whether it’s sunny Sydney or the hell of the Dalek-Movellan war, Heather follows…and won’t give up until Bill joins or rejects her.

Order the DVDDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Steven Moffat
directed by Lawrence Gough
music by Murray Gold

Cast: Peter Capaldi (The Doctor), Pearl Mackie (Bill), Matt Lucas (Nardole), Jennifer Hennessy (Moira), Stephanie Hyam (Heather), Nicholas Briggs (Dalek voices)

Doctor WhoNotes: This is the first (and only) screen appearance of the Movellans since their only other appearance in 1979’s Destiny Of The Daleks; they are primarily a background detail here, and not central to the plot, just like the Daleks that show up without being the central threat. The Doctor seems to have an abundance of his retired sonic screwdrivers on hand – score one product placement for Character Options and Underground Toys – and has framed photos of River Song and Susan on his desk.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Season 2 Stranger Things

MADMAX

Stranger ThingsHanging out at the local arcade as in fall 1984 is a perfectly ordinary activity, unless you live in Hawkins, Indiana and your name is Will Byers and it’s been a year since the most terrifying experience of your life. One moment he feels like a storm is brewing outside the arcade, the next moment he – and the arcade – are in the Upside Down, and the storm clouds part to reveal an enormous spider-like creature. And then, just as suddenly, Will is back among his friends, who are more interested in who has beaten Dustin’s high scores and left only the name “MADMAX”. By coincidence, the boys have a new classmate named Maxine (though she prefers to go by Max); when they try to find out more about her, she leaves them a note to leave her alone…not that this discourages Justin or Lucas. Will’s mother takes him to Hawkins National Lab to speak to a doctor there about his recent experience; both Will and Joyce have to be reassured that the lab is under new management, and Dr. Owens is looking out for Will. Another vision of the Upside Down, this time longer and scarier, grips Will. Elsewhere, Police Chief Jim Hopper has a dinner guest with a liking for Eggos.

written by Matt Duffer & Ross Duffer
directed by Matt Duffer & Ross Duffer
music by Michael Stein & Kyle Dixon

Stranger ThingsCast: Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers), David Harbour (Jim Hopper), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), Noah Schanpp (Will Byers), Sadie Sink (Max), Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers), Joe Keery (Steve Harrington), Dacre Montgomery (Billy), Cara Buono (Karen Wheeler), Sean Astin (Bob Newby), Paul Reiser (Dr. Owens), Linnea Berthelsen (Roman), Joe Chrest (Ted Wheeler), Catherine Curtin (Claudia Henderson), Brett Gelman (Murray Bauman), Kai L. Greene (Funshine), Randy Havens (Mr. Clarke), James Landry Hebert (Axel), Anna Jacoby-Heron (Dottie), Gabrielle Maiden (Mick), Rob Morgan (Officer Powell), Chelsea Talmadge (Carol), Glennellen Anderson (Nicole), Cynthia Barrett (Mrs. Holland), Alan Boell (Adams), Gilbert Glenn Brown (Cop #4), Matty Cardarople (Keith), Madelyn Cline (Tina), Abigail Cowan (Vicki), Brian F. Durkin (Cop #1), Joe Davison (Nerdy Tech), Lauren Halperin (Dr. Owens’ Assistant), Christopher Johnson (Cop #2), Fenton Lawless (Merril), Charles Lawlor (Mr. Medvald), David A. MacDonald (Flamethrower Soldier), Aaron Munoz (Mr. Holland), Tinsley Price (Holly Wheeler), Susan Shalhoub Larkin (Florence), Tony Vaughn (Principal Coleman), Ricardo Miguel Young (TV Reporter)

Stranger ThingsNotes: Everything about the arcade feels spot-on, such as Dragon’s Lair taking the world by storm in 1984, but one minor detail had to be changed for the story to work: neither Centipede nor Dig Dug allowed more than three characters on their high score screens. Neither game would have had room for “MADMAX” or “DUSTIN” on their high score tables. Paul Reiser isn’t just the Mad About You guy or the My Two Dads guy; his role as Burke in 1986’s Aliens gives him some serious genre cred.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Audio Series Star Cops

One Of Our Cops Is Missing

Star CopsNathan Spring, commander of the International Space Police Force (known more informally as the Star Cops), is dragged into a new case by his old Earthbound colleague, Brian Lincoln. One of Lincoln’s best undercover cops has infiltrated a presumed drug operation being run by the Collier brothers – and has now gone completely silent, breaking off all contact. The case involves Spring because all signs point toward the Colliers trying to launch the illegal narcotics trade into space, which is a dangerous enough place even with a clear head. Meanwhile, Colin Devis investigates a series of suspicious spacesuit malfunctions on a space station operated by the government of India, but initially blows them off as routine malfunctions…until he himself nearly becomes the next victim. When Spring and Lincoln perform a surprise spot inspection of cargo about to be launched by the company the Colliers are using as a front, they’re run off the road and held hostage. Lincoln is horrified when he is interrogated at gunpoint by Paul Bailey…the undercover agent who broke contact.

written by Andrew Smith
directed by Helen Goldwyn
music by Howard Carter

Cast: David Calder (Nathan Spring), Trevor Cooper (Colin Devis), Linda Newton (Pal Kenzy), Philip Olivier (Paul Bailey), Rakhee Thakrar (Priya Basu), George Asprey (Alby Royle / Steven Moore), Delroy Atkinson (Charles Hardin). Ewan Bailey (Martin Collyer), Nimmy March (Shayla Moss), Andy Secombe (Brian Lincoln)

Notes: This is the first story in a four-story box set continuing the much-lauded but short-lived 1987 BBC2 sci-fi series Star Cops. Original cast members David Calder, Linda Newton, and Trevor Cooper reprise their roles from the original series, as does guest star Andrew Secombe, who played Lincoln in the TV series pilot. (Original TV series regular Erick Ray Evans died in 1999.) The original series’ life was cut short due to an ongoing feud between series creator Chris Boucher and producer Evgeny Gridneff; neither of them is involved with the Big Finish audio series. Also absent is the much-derided original theme song written and sung by Justin Hayward, replaced by an original (and entirely instrumental) composition for the audio series.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Doctor Who New Series Season 11

The Woman Who Fell To Earth

Doctor WhoRyan Sinclair is nonplussed by the bicycle his grandmother, Grace, and her husband, Graham, have gotten for him; he suffers from a coordination disorder that makes riding it difficult, though he finds it easy – in a fit of anger – to throw it off a hill. As he’s retrieving it, Ryan sees a three-dimensional geometric shape form in the air; when he touches it, it disappears, replaced by a large blue pod. He calls the police, and is reunited with childhood friend Yasmin Khan, now a police officer in training, when she responds to his call.

Ryan, Grace and Graham are riding the train back into town when the train crashes into something, killing the driver. An undulating mass of electrical wires corners the passengers when a woman crashes through the ceiling of the train and immediately wards off the wires, as if that’s her first instinct. Unfortunately, while she immediately takes charge of the situation, she has no idea who she is, though she claims that she was a Scotsman mere minutes ago, confusing the already-terrified people in her vicinity. After this initial burst of activity, she collapses in Grace and Graham’s home, awakening to find that something has emerged from the pod seen by Ryan. A being called Tzim-Sha is hunting for a designated target on Earth, as part of a ritualistic hunt that determines the status of his race, the Stenza. What he doesn’t know is that he is now up against the Doctor – even if she’s not sure of who she is yet – who is pledged to protect Earth and its people.

Order the DVDwritten by Chris Chibnall
directed by Jamie Childs
music by Segun Akinola

Cast: Jodie Whittaker (The Doctor), Bradley Walsh (Graham O’Brien), Tosin Cole (Ryan Sinclair), Mandip Gill (Yasmin Khan), Sharon D. Clarke (Grace O’Brien), Samuel Oatley (Tim Shaw), Jonny Dixon (Karl), Amit Shah (Rahul), Asha Kingsley (Sonia), Janine Mellor (Janey), Asif Khan (Ramesh Sunder), James Thackeray (Andy), Philip Abiodun (Dean), Stephen MacKenna (Dennis), Everal A. Walsh (Gabriel)

Chris Noth as Robertson in Doctor WhoNotes: After 12 years of the Doctor’s adventures being scored by Murray Gold, this is the first change of music composer in the revived Doctor Who series; ironically, it’s also the first episode in Doctor Who’s 55-year history to completely omit an opening title sequence, so Segun Akinola’s new arrangement of the Doctor Who theme music wouldn’t debut until the following episode, The Ghost Monument. Bradley Walsh had previously appeared as Odd Bob in the Russell T. Davies-era Doctor Who spinoff The Sarah Jane Adventures (Day Of The Clown parts 1 and 2), as well as the 2001 comedy Hotel!, where he shared screen time with once and future Doctors Paul McGann and Peter Capaldi. The episode’s title is a reference to the 1976 movie The Man Who Fell To Earth, starring David Bowie. The teeth are a dead giveaway that Tim Shaw is no relation to Liz Shaw.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Mars Season 2

We Are Not Alone

Mars2042: Mars has been occupied by human scientists and engineers for nine years, working toward the dual goals of finding out more about past microbial life native to the planet and making Mars habitable for human colonists. The original Mars colony has blossomed into a city-like outpost called Olympus Town, another ship from the International Mars Science Foundation is en route, and China has put a crewed space station in orbit of the red planet. But company is coming: Lukrum, a mining corporation from Earth with enough money to go interplanetary, is sending the crew and equipment for its own colony on Mars, devoted not to scientific research but to strip-mining for profit. Their ship’s arrival is explosive, to say the least, with its jettisoned heat shield raining debris down on Olympus Town. Worse yet, Lukrum’s workers arrive on Mars with a demand to connect to Olympus Town’s water supply, citing international treaties requiring the IMSF outpost to assist astronauts in distress. But Hana Seung, still in command of Olympus Town, is skeptical since Lukrum’s “distress” is by design, not by accident. A pipeline is approved by the IMSF, but what isn’t approved is the breakneck pace of construction – putting Lukrum’s employees and the IMSF colonists at risk – or the shortcut that Lukrum Base commander Kurt Hurrelle decides to take through an area that the IMSF has set aside for research.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Dee Johnson
based on the book “How We’ll Live On Mars” by Stephen Petranek
directed by Stephen Cragg
music by Brian Reitzell

MarsCast: Jihae (Hana Seung / Joon Seung), Sammi Rotibi (Robert Foucalt), Alberto Ammann (Javier Delgado), Clementine Poidatz (Amelie Durand), Anamaria Marinca (Marta Kamen), Cosima Shaw (Dr. Leslie Richardson), Gunnar Cauthery (Lt. Michael Glenn), Roxy Sternberg (Jen Carson), Evan Hall (Shep Marster), Jeff Hephner (Kurt Hurrelle), Levi Fiehler (Cameron Pate), Esai Morales (Roland St. John), Martin Angerbauer (Danny), Naomi Christie (Zhen Zhen Yow), Nicholas Goh (Gan Chen), Shea Hephner (Chelsea Hurelle), Timea Kasa (Clerk), David Miller (Assistant), Nicholas Wittman (Oliver Lee)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Orville, The Season 2

All The World Is Birthday Cake

The OrvilleThe process of search for Alara’s replacement has finally settled on another Xelayan security officer, Lt. Talla Keyali, though Mercer still seems apprehensive about anyone stepping into Alara’s shoes. Commander Grayson and Bortus discuss holding a joint birthday party, an idea whose merits she seems unable to sell Bortus on. A radio signal from a distant planet – “is anyone out there?” – signals an imminent first-contact situation, but despite the initial introductions going smoothly, the Orville crew’s hosts suddenly hold them at gunpoint and have Grayson and Bortus sent to an internment camp, all because a casual mention of their imminent birthdays means that they fall into a star sign that this society’s astrologers consider extremely dangerous. Mercer and his new security chief try to parlay for their officers’ release, while Grayson and Bortus become resigned to the fact that any escape attempt will surely only prove that they are dangerous and violent.

Download 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), Jessica Szohr (Lt. Talla Keyali), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Chad L. Coleman (Klyden), Ted Danson (Admiral Perry), Chris Johnson (Cassius), Mike Henry (Dann), John Rubinstein (First Prefect), Niko Nicotera (Rokal ), Jennifer Landon (Ukania), Robert Curtis Brown (Chief Advisor Makkal), Heather Horton (Science Prefect), Marie-Francoise Theodore (Advisor #2), Gigi Hessamian (Physicist), Meredith Thomas (Nurse), Matthew Foster (Regorian Doctor), The OrvilleArriane Alexander (Regorian Doctor #2), Erica Shaffer (Obstetric Surgeon #1), Brandon Young (Obstetric Surgeon #2), Carlos E. Campos (Obstetric Surgeon #3), Carlos Arellano (Burly Man), Evan Angone (Cameraman), Chet Grissom (Aide), Julienne Irons (Prisoner), Blesson Yates (Topa), Kyra Santoro (Ensign Turco), Charles Maceo (Camp Guard #1), Cory Tucker (Camp Guard #2), Chad T. Wood (Warden), Jack Kennedy (Military Security Guard), Thai Edwards (Holding Cell Guard), Troy Vincent (Man in Lab Coat)

Notes: There’s in interesting Star Trek connection in this episode’s cast-of-almost-thousands: actress Julienne Irons played Lt. Uhura in the earliest episodes of the fan-made series Star Trek: New Voyages.

LogBook entry by Earl Green