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Planet Of The Apes The Animated Series

Flames Of Doom

Planet Of The ApesThe spaceship Ventura, with its crew of three astronauts, plunges through a time warp as it returns to Earth from a deep space mission to find the whereabouts of a lost expedition (which was itself launched to search for Taylor’s crew). Though it still lands on Earth, its crew has arrived nearly two millennia after they expected to return. The world is now ruled by intelligent apes, and a heated debate rages over whether human beings are dangerous to the dominant ape species, or if they can be preserved as harmless pets. Astronauts Hudson, Franklin and Carter find a settlement of humans, but these humans are primitive at best. The contrast between the native humans and the astronauts attracts the attention of the new rulers of Earth, who consider a more modern human race a threat to their existence, and they set out to capture the three astronauts.

Order the DVDswritten by Larry Spiegel
directed by Cullen Houghtaling
music by Dean Elliott

Voice Cast: Tom Williams (Bill Hudson), Claudette Nevins (Judy Franklin), Austin Stoker (Jeff Carter), Henry Corden (Dr. Cornelius), Tress MacNeille (Dr. Zira), Henry Corden (General Urko)

Notes: It’s nearly impossible to reconcile Return To The Planet Of The Apes with either the movies that started the saga, or the short-lived live-action series that attempted to continue it. It’s probably wisest to view Return as a retelling of the Apes saga for a younger audience, rather than any kind of continuation. The depiction of humans at a stone-age level, the inclusion of Cornelius, Zira and Dr. Zaius, and the mentions of Brent and Nova from Beneath The Planet Of The Apes, are appropriated from the films, but the apes in Return have far more advanced technology, including motorized vehicles and television. The character of General Urko is borrowed from the live-action television series, again serving as a persistent nemesis for the humans. The exterior of the three-person Ventura is represented by artwork of the single-seater Mercury capsules of the 1960s, rather than a depiction that’s anywhere near the vehicles seen in the Apes movies or live-action TV series; the design of the American space shuttle was finalized by the time Return To The Planet Of The Apes went into production, but wasn’t used.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Invisible Man

The Klae Resource

The Invisible ManSome time after the incident that caused him to be rendered permanently invisible, Dr. Daniel Westin and his wife, Dr. Kate Westin, are in the employ of the Klae Corporation, and are hired out as a team of “specialists” to take on particularly difficult tasks. One such task will require both invisibility and cunning: an inventor named Parks has gone missing, and the government is concerned that he might sell his latest energy breakthrough to the highest bidder in the Middle East. His last known location is a Vegas casino hotel, but no one has actually seen him recently…and solving the mystery of his whereabouts will require the skills of someone else who no one can actually see.

written by Steven Bochco
directed by Robert Michael Lewis
music by Henry Mancini

The Invisible ManCast: David McCallum (Dr. Daniel Westin), Melinda Fee (Dr. Kate Westin), Craig Stevens (Walter Carlson), Robert Alda (Fielder), Conrad Janis (Homer), Barry Sullivan (Lionel Parks), Scott Walker (1st Guard), Paul Kent (Kelly), Dick Balduzzi (Agent Stern), James Karen (Hotel Manager), Joseph George (2nd Guard), Jackie Russell (Female Operator), David Knapp (Casino Drunk), Dennis Robertson (Technical Expert), Jack Frey (Bellman), Gary Pagett (Croupier), Chuck Courtney (Limo Driver), Richard Geary (Boone)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Land Of The Lost Original Season 2

The Zarn

Land Of The LostTaking shelter in a cave when they’re cornered by a dinosaur, Rick and Will find a vast cavern containing something that may or may not be a spaceship. They find another human being in a coffin-like container, and it turns out to be a woman from Rick’s home town, and they share many experiences and memories from years before he was marooned here. Rick invites her to join the Marshalls for dinner, though Will and Holly are suspicious of their guest, and how quickly she gains Rick’s trust. Is she too good to be true?

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Dick Morgan
directed by Bob Lally
music by Michael Lloyd

Cast: Spencer Milligan (Rick Marshall), Wesley Eure (Will Marshall), Kathy Coleman (Penny Marshall), Brooke Bundy (Sharon), Marvin Miller (Zarn voice), Van Snowden (Zarn)

Land Of The LostNotes: Brooke Bundy has played guest roles on Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, Mission: Impossible, Circle Of Fear, Night Gallery, Search, Wonder Woman, and Starman, as well as being the first chief engineer of the new Enterprise in the second episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (whose first season seemed to have a new chief engineer nearly every week). Marvin Miller would go on to be the omnipresent voice of the narrator throughout another Sid & Marty Krofft series, Electra Woman & Dyna Girl a year later.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Planet Of The Apes The Animated Series

Escape From Ape City

Planet Of The ApesBill has been captured by the apes and taken back to their city, where the ape scientists, Cornelius and Zira, express an interest in him. That interest keeps Bill from being subjected to brutal slave labor or taking part in ape war games, but when he learns that Zira and Cornelius plan to perform surgery on his brain, Bill voices his objections…which stuns his captors, who have never met a human intelligent enough to speak. Bill plots not only his own escape, but plans to free the rest of the humans captured by the apes.

Order the DVDswritten by Larry Spiegel
directed by Cullen Houghtaling
music by Dean Elliott

Voice Cast: Tom Williams (Bill Hudson), Claudette Nevins (Judy Franklin), Austin Stoker (Jeff Carter), Henry Corden (Dr. Cornelius), Tress MacNeille (Dr. Zira), Henry Corden (General Urko)

Return to The Planet Of The ApesNotes: The first few minutes of this episode basically repeat some of the major plot points of the original Planet Of The Apes movie; Bill is called “Blue Eyes” (as opposed to Taylor being called “Bright Eyes” in the film), and the revelation that he can speak plays out similarly to that of Taylor in the movie, again making it easier to regard this as a reboot from the ground up, rather than a part of the original film and TV continuity.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Invisible Man

The Fine Art Of Diplomacy

The Invisible ManWhen priceless pieces of art go missing, replaced by forgeries, the Klae Resource is called into action. Daniel is happy to help try to solve the mystery, but he’s less thrilled with the plan that calls for his wife to distract the suspected art thief, a foreign ambassador, by any means necessary. Unfortunately for both of them, the ambassador has quite lethal ideas on protecting his stash of priceless paintings, and evil Daniel’s invisibility may not see things through.

written by James D. Parriott
directed by Sigmund Neufeld Jr.
music by Henry Mancini

The Invisible ManCast: David McCallum (Dr. Daniel Westin), Melinda Fee (Dr. Kate Westin), Craig Stevens (Walter Carlson), Ross Martin (Ambassador Diego Devega), Michael Pataki (Tandi), Paul Stewart (Mr. Wood), Vincent Beck (Gregario), Pepe Callahan (Manuel), Gwil Richards (Capitol Guard), Nicholas Lewis (1st Embassy Guard), Raymond O’Keefe (2nd Embassy Guard)

Invisible ManNotes: This is one of the earliest professional writing credits for James D. Parriott, who returned to pen several more Invisible Man scripts. He also wrote episodes of The Bionic Woman, The Incredible Hulk, and The Six Million Dollar Man before embarking on a stellar career of creating and running his own shows, from Voyagers! to Misfits Of Science to Forever Knight to Defying Gravity.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Invisible Man

Man Of Influence

The Invisible ManThe Klae Corporation is asked to investigate reports that a shady “medium” is holding seances to allow a senator to speak to his dead wife, but is using that illusion to influence the senator’s votes. The Westins go to visit the medium, but when it appears their cover might be blown, Daniel announces that Kate is a powerful psychic with telekinetic powers. He then ducks out of sight and uses his invisibility to lend that claim some credence, winning Kate an invitation to the senator’s next seance…but until then, someone is trying to kill the Westins before they can make another appearance. It’ll be no small matter for Daniel and Kate to expose the fraudulent medium at large.

teleplay by Seeleg Lester and Rick Blaine
story by Rick Blaine
directed by Alan J. Levi
music by Pete Rugolo

The Invisible ManCast: David McCallum (Dr. Daniel Westin), Melinda Fee (Dr. Kate Westin), Craig Stevens (Walter Carlson), John Vernon (Mr. Sheed), Gene Raymond (Senator Hanover), Jack Colvin (Mr. Williams), Shirley O’Hara (Margaret Hanover), Loni Anderson (Andrea Hanover), Dorothy Love (Woman), Donald Gentry (Policeman), James Standifer (Policeman), Alan Mandell (Senator Baldwin), Robert Douglas (Dr. Theophilus)

Notes: This is one of the earliest professional acting credits for Loni Anderson, just a few years before she won a starring role in WKRP In Cincinnati.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Invisible Man

Eyes Only

The Invisible ManA woman with access to some of the most sensitive information in Washington is believed to be selling those secrets somehow, and bodies are piling up in her wake. The Klae Resource is called into action, with Kate posing as a would-be employee interviewing for a job, while quietly allowing the invisible Daniel to investigate the leak of vital secrets. He discovers that the “spy” is herself a victim of circumstances being exploited by someone with a much darker agenda…but Carlson insists that, rather than whisking her away to safety, she has to remain visible, and vulnerable, as a decoy to draw the real villains out.

written by Leslie Stevens
directed by Alan J. Levi
music by Henry Mancini

The Invisible ManCast: David McCallum (Dr. Daniel Westin), Melinda Fee (Dr. Kate Westin), Craig Stevens (Walter Carlson), Barbara Anderson (Paula Simon), William Prince (Dr. Kenneth Maynard), Bobby Van (Tony Bernard), John Kerr (Kirk), Thayer David (Jack Pierson), Frank Christi (Nick Palanzi), Vince Martorano (Joe Palanzi), Tony Swartz (Guard with dog), William Bronder (Marty), Gregory Bach (Dino), Bob Hackman (Project Worker), Vern Rowe (Cab Driver)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Invisible Man

Barnard Wants Out

The Invisible ManDaniel and Kate are assigned to visit a scientific conference in Geneva, where Daniel’s old mentor, Dr. Barnard, is expected to announce his latest breakthrough. Barnard defected to a Communist country several years ago, but the CIA has asked the Klae Resource to contact him to see if he wants to return to the western world. Going invisible and contacting Barnard is easy for Daniel, but getting himself, Kate, Barnard and his daughter back to America alive is the hard part…especially when it seems that Anna Barnard’s loyalties lie with the country in which she has grown up.

written by James D. Parriott
directed by Alan J. Levi
music by Pete Rugolo

The Invisible ManCast: David McCallum (Dr. Daniel Westin), Melinda Fee (Dr. Kate Westin), Craig Stevens (Walter Carlson), Nehemiah Persoff (Dr. Leon Barnard), Jane Actman (Anna), Paul Shenar (Alexi Zartov), Cliff Osmond (Elevator Guard), George Fisher (Yuri), Joe Rainer (Guard), Peter Colt (Petra), Ralph Anderson (Bell Boy), Charles Stewart (Man), Inga Neilsen (Swedish Bombshell), Macon McCalman (Consul)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Invisible Man

Sight Unseen

The Invisible ManA wealthy man’s blind daughter is kidnapped and held for ransom, all because he was on the verge of divulging all of his ties to organized crime. Believing this assignment to be particularly dangerous, Dan and Kate are instructed to simply find out where the girl is being held, but are ordered not to rescue her themselves. When the girl’s kidnappers grow suspicious, however, Dan and Kate are left with no choice but to get directly involved, and for once, Dan finds himself helping someone to whom his invisibility doesn’t matter.

teleplay by Brian Rehak
story by Brian & Kandy Rehak
directed by Sigmund Neufeld, Jr.
music by Pete Rugolo

The Invisible ManCast: David McCallum (Dr. Daniel Westin), Melinda Fee (Dr. Kate Westin), Craig Stevens (Walter Carlson), Jamie Smith Jackson (Laurie Capas), David Opatoshu (Mr. Capas), Richard X. Slattery (Griggs), Harry Davis (Jimmy James), Rod Colbin (Agent Wells), Al Ruscio (Mannie Hallman), Brett Hadley (1st Agent), Jack Garner (Pedestrian), Ken Del Conte (Gate Guard), Tom Geas (3rd Guard), Richard Reed (1st Guard)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Invisible Man

Go Directly To Jail

The Invisible ManThe Klae Corporation’s cleaning lady begs the Westins for help: her son has been arrested in Texas on drug charges, despite never having had any prior offenses. Against Walter’s wishes, the Westins set out to see what they can find out, discovering that she’s telling the truth…as far as she knows it. Her son is a federal agent working undercover to bring down a heroin smuggling operation run from the prison warden’s office…and by going undercover (and invisible) to investigate, Daniel may blow the agent’s cover.

written by Steven Bochco
directed by Sigmund Neufeld, Jr.
music by Pete Rugolo

The Invisible ManCast: David McCallum (Dr. Daniel Westin), Melinda Fee (Dr. Kate Westin), Craig Stevens (Walter Carlson), James McEachin (Leland McCallister), Pat Harrington (Warden), John Crawford (Coner), Gregory Walcott (Police Officer), Pauline Myers (Mrs. McCallister), Eric Mason (Senor Robles), Ed Call (1st Prisoner), Gus Peters (2nd Prisoner), Tony B. Burton (3rd Prisoner), George “Buck” Flower (Bunker Guard), Nicholas Worth (Guard with shoes), Jason Johnson (Farmer)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Invisible Man

Stop When Red Lights Flash

The Invisible ManPassing through the small town of Docker Junction en route to an assignment, the Westins pull up behind a parked and apparently abandoned school bus whose red lights are nonetheless flashing. After confirming that no one is in or near the bus, Daniel drives around it, only to be given a ticket for doing so. Appearing in court that afternoon, Daniel balks at the exorbitant fine announced by the city judge, and grows suspicious when he discovers that the fine can be paid in cash only – no checks. Daniel doesn’t have that kind of cash on him, and he and Kate are promptly thrown in jail; he uses his one phone call to summon help from Walter Carlson at the Klae Institute. Worse yet, the police check the Westins’ vehicle for any signs of “contraband” that could result in an even higher fine, and they discover Daniel’s supply of faces and hands. Is the invisible man’s cover about to be blown by a small-town rigged court scam?

written by Seeleg Lester
directed by Gene Nelson
music by Pete Rugolo

The Invisible ManCast: David McCallum (Dr. Daniel Westin), Melinda Fee (Dr. Kate Westin), Craig Stevens (Walter Carlson), Roger C. Carmel (Judge Jones), Scott Brady (Sheriff Bentley), Frank Aletter (Charles Hooten), Eddie Firestone (Town Lush), Ted Hartley (Craig), Dean Santoro (Benoit), Kasey Rogers (Gert), Pearl Shear (Ethel), Harold Ayer (Jeb), John Furlong (Riley), Donald Elson (Compositor), Kristin Larkin (The Girl)

Notes: Roger C. Carmel is a face well known to Star Trek fans for repeatedly playing interplanetary con man Harry Mudd, a character who had the rare distinction of appearing in both the live action and animated versions of Star Trek.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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TV Movies

Alien Lover

StarstruckAfter becoming orphaned and spending three months in a mental institution, Susan arrives at her aunt and uncle’s home to move in with them. Her Uncle Mike is only too pleased to be receiving a slice of Susan’s inheritance to pay her expenses, and when Susan begins mentioning that she’s having conversations with someone named Marc through a television set, Mike sees an opportunity to have Susan committed and legally gain full access to that inheritance. Mike and Marian’s son, Jude, comes home from college with his roommate for a visit, and Susan learns that Jude has seen and spoken to Marc as well – and that he’s scared to death of the handsome man on the TV. Lonely and lovesick, Susan refuses to accept Jude’s disturbing warning that Marc is the leader of an alien invasion force…but if her crush finds a way to step out of the TV, it could be the beginning of humanity’s end.

written by George Lefferts
directed by Lela Swift
music by Robert Cobert

Alien LoverCast: Pernell Roberts (Mike), Susan Brown (Marian), Kate Mulgrew (Susan), Steven Earl Tanner (Jude), John Ventantonio (Marc), David Lewis (Dr. Steiner), Harry Moses (Richard), and Herman

Notes: This was Kate Mulgrew’s first television job, filmed sometime around her 20th birthday, though it was beaten to the punch by her debut in the series regular role of Mary on Ryan’s Hope (a daytime soap which went into production after Alien Lover). Just four years later, she was starring in her own series, Mrs. Alien LoverColumbo. She was later a series regular on the late ’80s hospital series Heartbeat, the short-lived early ’90s James Garner series Man Of The People, 2007’s The Black Donnellys, Cartoon Network’s live-action series NTSF:SD:SUV, and most recently was Red in the Netflix series Orange Is The New Black, though anyone reading this site likely knows her best from her seven-year stint as Captain Kathryn Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager, a role she reprised (with a promotion) in 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis. Alien Lover was a TV movie-of-the-week aired as part of the NBC Mystery Movie, an anthology series that ran from 1973 through 1978, usually leaning on crime/mystery stories, but occasionally dipping into – as was the case here – the paranormal.

LogBook entry and review by Earl Green

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Invisible Man

Pin Money

The Invisible ManWalter’s aunt comes to the Klae Corporation headquarters for a rather disjointed visit, just as Walter is headed to Washington for an important meeting. The Westins offer to let her stay with them, only to discover that Aunt Margaret has an affinity to late night poker games…where she loses heavily. To cover her losses, she’s been “borrowing” money from the bank where she works, and this has been discovered by a man who works there and demands a cut of whatever money she takes illegally. Daniel is determined to help Aunt Margaret not only return the money, but clean up at the poker table to clear her name…and he just has to stage a bank robbery to do it. What could possibly go wrong?

written by James D. Parriott
directed by Alan J. Levi
music by Pete Rugolo

The Invisible ManCast: David McCallum (Dr. Daniel Westin), Melinda Fee (Dr. Kate Westin), Craig Stevens (Walter Carlson), Helen Kleeb (Aunt Margaret), John Zee (Arnold), James Blendick (Sanders), Wayne Grace (Baldy), Wayne Taylor (Big Nose), Thom Carney (Mersky), Larry French (Tex), Jim Mills (Lawyer), Ray Ballard (Poker Player), G.J. Mitchell (Carter), Arline Anderson (Teller), Karl Lukas (1st Truck Driver), Mickey Gatlin (2nd Truck Driver), Gene Borkan (Cabbie), James Whitworth (Bruiser)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Invisible Man

The Klae Dynasty

The Invisible ManNormal day-to-day operations at the Klae Corporation are turned upside-down when the three Klae siblings, the corporation’s founders and benefactors, want to host a summit meeting of great minds at the institute. At the top of their agenda is security, and they immediately want the “Klae resource” deployed without knowing what it is, only knowing that the Westins are somehow in charge of it. There is good reason to worry about security, too: as preparations are being made, Caroline Klae is kidnapped. In the chaos, Dan slips away to go invisible, trying to follow the kidnappers, only to discover that their getaway doesn’t add up: it’s a staged decoy, and Caroline must still be somewhere on the Klae Corporation grounds. In the meantime, a power play ensues between her two very different brothers regarding what becomes of her share of the family fortune.

written by Philip DeGuere, Jr.
directed by Alan J. Levi
music by Pete Rugolo

The Invisible ManCast: David McCallum (Dr. Daniel Westin), Melinda Fee (Dr. Kate Westin), Craig Stevens (Walter Carlson), Nancy Kovack Mehta (Caroline Klae), Farley Granger (Julian Klae), George Murdock (Captain Scopes), Peter Donat (Morgan Klae), Joe Maross (Ryan), Rayford Barnes (Pierce)

The Invisible ManNotes: George Murdock would go on to play the recurring role of the doctor aboard the 1970s incarnation of Battlestar Galactica, and would gain further sci-fi infamy as the face of “God” in 1989’s Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, redeeming himself among Trek fans a year later as Admiral Hansen in the fan-favorite Star Trek: The Next Generation two-parter The Best Of Both Worlds. Peter Donat would resurface as the villain in another cult sci-fi classic, as recurring enemy Dr. Mordecai Sahmbi in the 1990s syndicated series Time Trax.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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TV Movies

Into Infinity (Gerry Anderson’s The Day After Tomorrow)

Into InfinityAt Space Station Delta, the starship Altares is preparing for an unprecedented mission: the first manned interstellar mission, utilizing a photonic drive that will create a time dilation effect relative to Earth; any messages the Altares crew sends back from Alpha Centauri will reach the descendants of the mission controllers who helped launch the ship. The Altares is crewed by two families, and even the children are fully trained in the technical and scientific aspects of the mission.

Activation of the photonic drive goes off without a hitch, but contact with Earth is now measured in years instead of minutes or hours. Altares’ visit to Alpha Centauri takes place on schedule, but an unexpected fault activates the photon drive again, throwing the ship off-course at nearly the speed of light and completely out of touch with Earth. With a star threatening to go supernova at any moment, and a black hole that might crush the Altares, the mission and the crew are in jeopardy.

Into Infinitywritten by Johnny Byrne
directed by Charles Crichton
music by Derek Wadsworth and Steve Coe

Cast:

Brian Blessed (Tom Bowen), Joanna Dunham (Anna Bowen), Nick Tate (Captain Harry Masters), Don Fellows (Jim Forbes), Katharine Levy (Jane Masters), Martin Lev (David Bowen), Ed Bishop (Narrator)

Notes: A pilot that never made it to series, Into Infinity first aired in the United States as part of NBC’s occasional “Special Treat” program, and then aired in the UK a year later under the title Gerry Anderson’s Day After Tomorrow). Devised by Gerry Anderson (of Supermarionation, UFO, and Space: 1999 fame) and Space: 1999 script editor Johnny Byrne (also responsible for a few episodes of Doctor Who, including Into InfinityThe Keeper Of Traken and the character of Nyssa), Into Infinity was made between the first and second seasons of Space: 1999. As the Altares plunges into the event horizon of the black hole toward the end of the show, a psychedelic sequence ensues which eerily anticipates – in great detail – the bizzaro ending of the 1979 Disney movie The Black Hole. The producers of the later movie were aiming for something cerebral, quasi-spiritual and ambiguous a la 2001: a space odyssey, but the similarities in the hallucinatory sequences near the end of Into Infinity and The Black Hole are striking.

LogBook entry and review by Earl Green