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Buck Rogers Season 2

The Golden Man

Buck Rogers In The 25th CenturyThe Searcher encounters a lone life pod in the unlikeliest of places – tumbling helplessly through an asteroid field. The ship’s tractor beam catches the pod before it can collide with something, but the life expectancy of the golden-skinned child within the pod doesn’t grow appreciably when the Searcher itself collides with an asteroid. The ship survives remarkably intact, but it can’t escape the asteroid. The boy insists that he has a companion, trapped on a nearby planet, whose telekinetic powers could easily free the Searcher from its predicament, so Buck and the boy go to search for him. When they track him down, however, they find that he has been enslaved in a village whose superstitious leaders are forcing him to use his abilities to turn ordinary objects into crystal or precious metals. The villagers spot the similar boy with Buck and capture them as well, forcing Hawk to mount a one-man rescue mission.

Order the DVDswritten by Calvin Clement Sr. & Stephen McPherson
directed by Vincent McEveety
music by Bruce Broughton

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Colonel Wilma Deering), Thom Christopher (Hawk), Jay Garner (Admiral Asimov), Wilfred Hyde-White (Dr. Goodfellow), Felix Silla (Twiki), Jeff David (voice of Crichton), David Hollander (Vellus), Russell Wiggins (Relkos), Anthony James (Graff), Diana Chesney (Hag), Richard Wright (Onlooker #1), Arthur Eisner (Onlooker #2), Roger Rose (Marcos), Michael Marsters (Jailer), Bob Elyea (Alphie), Bruce M. Fischer (Loran)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Buck Rogers Season 2

The Crystals

Buck Rogers In The 25th CenturyBuck, Wilma and Hawk journey to the volcanic planet of Phibocetes to look for crystals needed to recharge the Searcher’s engines. Dr. Goodfellow believes the crystals can be found here, and Hawk finds one near a mummified humanoid coated with volcanic ash. Buck stays on the planet to begin preparations to mine the crystals as Wilma and Hawk return to the Searcher with the crystal sample, and Buck discovers a human female who seems to have no memory. By the time Wilma and Hawk return with a mining team from the Searcher, Buck has named the girl Laura but hasn’t been able to get her to remember anything else about herself. The Searcher crew members are repeatedly attacked by a large creature which steals the crystals they’ve mined, and sensors show that the being has the same body chemistry as Laura. Crichton discovers evidence that Laura and the creature are of the same race, but one which devolves from a human form into something more like the creature. Both of them share a strange, obsessive attachment to any of the crystals that are unearthed. Crichton also suggests that this could be the result of a virus that may be endangering the entire crew.

Order the DVDswritten by Robert Mitchell & Esther Mitchell
directed by John Patterson
music by Donald Woods

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Colonel Wilma Deering), Thom Christopher (Hawk), Jay Garner (Admiral Asimov), Wilfred Hyde-White (Dr. Goodfellow), Felix Silla (Twiki), Jeff David (voice of Crichton), Amanda Wyss (Laura), Sandy-Alexander Champion (Chief Petty Officer Hall), Alex Hyde-White (Lt. Martin), James Parkes (Kovick), Gary Bolen (Johnson), Leigh C. Kim (Petrie), Hubie Kerns Jr. (Mummy Monster)

Notes: This episode sees – or perhaps hears – the return of Mel Blanc as the voice of Twiki. Guest star Alex Hyde-White, seen here in a very small role, is the son of Wilfred Hyde-White and later appeared as Nightwatch recruiter Pierce Macabee in the Babylon 5 episode In The Shadow Of Z’Ha’Dum, as well as in the role of Reed Richards in an unreleased, Roger Corman-produced 1994 film version of Fantastic Four. Although the junior Hyde-White plays Lt. Martin here, he plays the role of Ensign Moore only two episodes later.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Buck Rogers Season 2

The Satyr

Buck Rogers In The 25th CenturyA woman and her son are the only remaining colonists on a remote planet called Arcadus, where they are repeatedly terrorized by a half-goat, half-man creature called Pangor. Buck and Twiki visit the planet during an asteroid survey, and immediately after landing, Buck is attacked by a wolf-like creature native to the planet. Buck meets Syra and her son Delph, but at first they don’t tell him anything about Pangor. Buck finds out soon enough, however, when Pangor attacks the shuttle, damaging Twiki. Buck offers to take Syra and Delph away from Arcadus, but Syra refuses to leave, despite Pangor’s continued attacks. Buck disrupts Pangor’s next attack, but the satyr bites him during the ensuing fight; believing that he’s drowned Pangor, Buck returns to Syra’s house for medical treatment. Even now, Buck finds the Syra won’t leave – in fact, she’s mourning at the news that Pangor may be dead. Syra finally reveals the truth: Pangor was once known as Major Jason Samos, Earth colonist, and transformed into a satyr mere hours after becoming infected by something on Arcadus. But Buck is about to find out for himself that the infection came from a satyr bite…

Order the DVDswritten by Paul Schneider & Margaret Schneider
directed by Victor French
music by Bruce Broughton

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Colonel Wilma Deering), Thom Christopher (Hawk), Jay Garner (Admiral Asimov), Wilfred Hyde-White (Dr. Goodfellow), Felix Silla (Twiki), Jeff David (voice of Crichton), Anne E. Curry (Syra Samos), Dave Cass (Pangor), Bobby P. Lane (Delph Samos), Dennis Freeman (Midshipman)

Notes: Director Victor French starred alongside Michael Landon in both Little House On The Prairie and Highway To Heaven, and directed episodes of both; his directorial career also included episodes of Gunsmoke, Dallas, Fame, and the TV series adaptation of the movie Fantastic Journey.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Buck Rogers Season 2

Shgoratchx!

Buck Rogers In The 25th CenturyThe Searcher investigates a derelict spacecraft in the interstellar shipping lanes. When Buck, Hawk and Crichton board the ship, they find seven little problems and one big one. The ship is populated by six little men claiming to be generals, and one who serves as a lowly private – and the ship’s hold is full of rapidly deteriorating solar bombs, enough to wipe out everything within 20 million miles. The Searcher locks onto the derelict with its tractor beam, and the seven unlikely passengers are welcomed aboard where they promptly wreak havoc, playing with the controls and nearly ramming the Searcher into the bomb-laden derelict. Crichton is also damaged, his positronic brain seriously damaged, and even Dr. Goodfellow can’t repair him. Worse yet, the generals have telekinetic powers, which they use to do everything from escaping their locked quarters to removing Wilma’s clothes for “scientific examination.” Their antics put the ship in further danger by locking it on a collision course for the star used to dispose of the solar bombs.

Order the DVDswritten by William Keys
directed by Vincent McEveety
music by Bruce Broughton

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Colonel Wilma Deering), Thom Christopher (Hawk), Jay Garner (Admiral Asimov), Wilfred Hyde-White (Dr. Goodfellow), Felix Silla (Twiki), Jeff David (voice of Crichton), Tommy Madden (General Xenos), Alex Hyde-White (Ensign Moore), John Edward Allen (General Zoman), Tony Cox (Private Zedht), Billy Curtis (General Voomak), Harry Monty (General Sothoz), Spencer Russell (General Towtuk), Charles Secor (General Kuzan)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Buck Rogers Season 2

The Hand Of Goral

Buck Rogers In The 25th CenturyA routine survey of an Earthlike planet turns up seemingly abandoned ruins, and one man who appears to be a human survivor. Crichton warns that the planet was called the planet of death by a long-extinct race called the Goral. Wilma returns to the Searcher with the survivor, while Buck and Hawk explore the ruins. An disorienting phenomenon on the planet convinces them to return to their ship as well, but what they find on the Searcher is even more disturbing: Admiral Asimov is arresting several members of the crew on suspicion of disloyalty and showing no mercy, and even the layout of the ship is different. Wilma appears to be unaffected at first, but even she exhibits behavior that Buck finds suspicious. He and Hawk manage to escape the Searcher and return to the planet of death, where an ancient being greets them – and tells them that they have successfully passed what is actually a test of intelligence and intuition. Now they must pass one more test – someone is sabotaging the Searcher, and they only have a little time to figure out who, and how.

Order the DVDswritten by Francis Moss
directed by David G. Phinney
music by Stu Phillips

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Colonel Wilma Deering), Thom Christopher (Hawk), Jay Garner (Admiral Asimov), Wilfred Hyde-White (Dr. Goodfellow), Felix Silla (Twiki), Jeff David (voice of Crichton), John Fujioka (Hand of the Goral), Peter Kastner (Reardon), William Bryant (Cowan), Dennis Haysbert (Lt. Parsons), Michael Horsley (Yeoman James)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Buck Rogers Season 2

Testimony Of A Traitor

Buck Rogers In The 25th CenturyThe Searcher makes a return to Earth, and once refueled and resupplied the ship will return to its deep space exploration mission. But before the Searcher can set off again, the Commissioner of Earth’s war crimes tribunal grounds the ship and arrives to personally arrest Buck. An ancient audiovisual recording medium predating the holocaust, known as a “videotape,” is uncovered, and its still-intact contents implicate Buck in a conspiracy that led to the near-destruction of Earth in the late 20th century. The Commissioner convenes Buck’s trial aboard the Searcher, and makes it clear that based on the damning evidence, he intends to pursue the death penalty. Buck claims he remembers none of what is recorded on the tape, but even when he submits to a mind probe devised by Dr. Goodfellow to reveal his true memories of 20th century Earth, images of his apparent betrayal of his own country still inexplicably appear.

Order the DVDswritten by Stephen McPherson
directed by Bernard McEveety
music by Bruce Broughton

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Colonel Wilma Deering), Thom Christopher (Hawk), Jay Garner (Admiral Asimov), Wilfred Hyde-White (Dr. Goodfellow), Felix Silla (Twiki), Jeff David (voice of Crichton), Ramon Bieri (Commissioner Bergstrom), William Sylvester (Lt. General Preston Myers), David Hooks (General Arnheim), Walter Brooke (President of the United States), John Milford (Official), John O’Connell (Major Peterson), Thomas Bellin (Crawford), Buck Young (Brigadier General Biles), Carl Reindel (Air Force Sergeant), Eric Lawrence (Young Marine), Jim Emery (Marine Pilot), Dean Brooks (Marine Sergeant), Bill Andes (Colonel Turner)

Notes: The videotape identifies November 22nd, 1987 as the date of the nuclear war – and apparently in whatever alternate history Buck’s adventures took place in, gigantic top-loading VCRs were still in use. (It’s also an odd coincidence – the 24th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy – given the conspiratorial nature of the storyline.) Guest star William Sylvester had appeared in another SF favorite, playing the role of Dr. Heywood Floyd in 2001: a space odyssey.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Buck Rogers Season 2

The Dorian Secret

Buck Rogers In The 25th CenturyMoments before Buck finishes escorting the last of a group of survivors from a volcanic planet aboard a Searcher shuttle, a panicked young woman rushes into the docking bay, begging Buck to let her board. He lets her get on the ship and fights off a masked pursuer before boarding the shuttle himself; Hawk launches the shuttle immediately before further trouble can ensue. Even once the shuttle and its passengers return to the Searcher, no one is safe: a Dorian ship intercepts the Searcher and its captain demands that the woman be handed over to faces charges of murder. When Admiral Asimov refuses that demand, the Dorians ensnare the Searcher in a tractor beam and use a thermal weapon to subject the ship and its passengers to sudden extremes of temperature, extremes that Crichton predicts will be unsurvivable by human life within eight hours. Buck and Hawk tell Asimov that they do have a passenger that the Dorians – who always wear a mask in the presence of other species, allegedly to hide their hideous mutations – were already pursuing one of the shuttle’s passengers. Even with the Admiral’s defiance of the Dorian threat, some of the other survivors have decided to find and hand over the wanted woman to save their own skins.

Order the DVDswritten by Stephen McPherson
directed by Jack Arnold
music by Donald Woods

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Colonel Wilma Deering), Thom Christopher (Hawk), Jay Garner (Admiral Asimov), Wilfred Hyde-White (Dr. Goodfellow), Felix Silla (Twiki), Jeff David (voice of Crichton), Devon Ericson (Asteria Eleefa), Denny Miller (Saurus), William Kirby Cullen (Demeter)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Knight Rider Season 1

Knight Of The Phoenix

Knight RiderPolice Lieutenant Michael Long is part of a sting operation intended to bring down an industrial espionage suspect. When his partner is gunned down during the operation, Michael’s thoughts turn to revenge, and he neglects to think twice about a woman who witnesses his partner’s murder – until she draws a gun on him. She’s part of the ring he’s supposed to be reeling in. She shoots Michael in the face at point-blank range and escapes with her cohorts; the sting is a failure.

But so is her attempt to kill Michael. Thanks to a fortuitously-placed metal plate in his skull, he is able to recover with the help of extensive reconstructive surgery that leaves him with a new face. His benefactors in his recovery are a man named Devon, and an older man, the wealthy Wilton Knight; they have arranged for the man known as Michael Long to be declared officially dead, leaving a man with a new face – “Michael Knight” – and no past. Wilton Knight, a tech tycoon, believes that someone has been stealing his secrets, and enlists Michael’s help. Devon introduces him to a nearly-indestructible custom car designed by Wilton Knight, the Knight Industries 2000 (or KITT for short), a Trans-Am whose outer body seems to be incapable of being scratched or dented. But it also has a built-in artificial intelligence programmed to aid Michael; it can assume complete control of the car in a pinch, and unflappably offers advice to its driver.

One trip to Silicon Valley and one death-and-dent-defying demolition derby later, Michael is investigating a company called Comptron, discovering that the people who stole Wilton Knight’s secrets were the same people Michael Long’s anti-espionage operation was meant to capture. These people are willing to kill; Michael, being an ex-cop, is trained to avoid killing unless necessary…which may be his undoing even with KITT and all of Knight Industries’ resources behind him.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Glen A. Larson
directed by Daniel Haller
music by Stu Phillips

Knight RiderCast: David Hasselhoff (Michael Knight), Edward Mulhare (Devon), Phyllis Davis (Tanya Walker), Pamela Susan Shoop (Maggie), Lance LeGault (Vernon Gray), Noel Conlon (William Benjamin), Michael D. Roberts (Jackson), Bert Rosario (Brown), Vince Edwards (Dr. Wesley), Richard Basehart (Wilton Knight), Edmund Gilbert (Charles Acton), Shawn Southwick (Lonnie), Brian Cutler (Bar Manager), Barret Oliver (Buddy), Robert Phillips (Symes), Alma L. Beltran (Luce), Ed Hooks (Guard), Tyler Murray (Sally), Victoria Harned (Doris), Larry Anderson (Michael Long), William Daniels (KITT), Herbert Jefferson Jr. (Muntzy)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Voyagers!

Destiny’s Choice

VoyagersBogg and Jeffrey appear in a courtroom in 1928, where Bogg heroically stops two armed men from assaulting a woman on the witness stand…only to realize that the courtroom is a movie set for the first “talking picture” in Hollywood. The actress playing the witness, Veronica Bliss, is amused by the incident; the studio security guards aren’t, since a persistent string of threats and other disruptions have threatened to put the movie’s production off schedule. Veronica is less amused when her persistent lisp gets her fired from the movie by its director, who everyone simply calls “Wild Frank”. When Bogg leans that “Wild Frank” is actually Franklin Delano Roosevelt, he immediately knows why the Omni isn’t letting the time travelers continue their travels. Someone is trying to prevent Roosevelt from completing his picture, and their attempts to do so are becoming more dangerous. But Bogg and Jeffrey are more concerned with an even bigger historical dilemma: what happened in Roosevelt’s history to take him out of politics, and how can his path to becoming one of the most important Presidents of the United States be restored?

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Jill Sherman
directed by Paul Stanley
music by Jerrold Immel

Voyagers!Cast: Jon-Erik Hexum (Phineas Bogg), Meeno Peluce (Jeffrey Jones), Oliver Clark (Sam Winthrop), Angela Clarke (Sara Delano Roosevelt), Ellen Geer (Eleanor Roosevelt), Nicholas Pryor (Franklin Delano Roosevelt), Bonnie Urseth (Veronica Bliss), Robert Carnegie (Guard), Robert Dunlap (Monroe Jones), Bill McLean (Mailman), Buddy Farmer (Stagehand #1), Karl Johnson (Stagehand #2), Joseph Leader (Franz Lubin), Roger Duffy (Child)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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TV Movies

Special Bulletin

Special BulletinAn armed anti-nuclear fringe group docks a rented tugboat at the port in Charleston, South Carolina; at the first sign of a Coast Guard inspection of the boat, fire is exchanged, and a local news crew reporting another story at the port is taken hostage. The terrorists aboard the boat demand that the news crew’s network give them access to the airwaves, or the hostages will be shot. RBN reluctantly allows the terrorists to broadcast their demands across the nation: the U.S. government will either deliver the remote detonation controls for its entire nuclear arsenal to the boat, or a low-yield nuke will be detonated in Charleston. After speculation arises that the demand is a bluff, a real nuclear device is shown on the air, though the government seems slow to respond, other than ordering a “limited” evacuation of Charleston. As RBN profiles the terrorists’ pasts, it becomes apparent that one of them has already contracted radiation poisoning from handling nuclear material…and a man with nothing to lose is the most dangerous man in the world.

teleplay by Marshall Herskovitz
story by Edward Zwick & Marshall Herskovitz
directed by Edward Zwick
music by Ferdinand Jay Smith

Special BulletinCast: Ed Flanders (John Woodley), Kathryn Walker (Susan Myles), Roxanne Hart (Meg Barclay), Christopher Allport (Steven Levitt), David Clennon (Dr. Bruce Lyman), David Rasche (Dr. David McKeeson), Rosalind Cash (Frieda Barton), Ebbe Roe Smith (Jim Seaver), Roberta Maxwell (Diane Silverman), Robert Kay (George Takashima), J. Wesley Huston (Bernard Frost), Frank Dent (Dr. Jason Halpern), Charles Lanyer (Merritt Cunningham), Mie Hunt (Ellen Stevens), Bruce Fields (Walter Letteau), Lane Smith (Morton Sanders), Jim Jansen (Arlen Surrey), Peter Hobbs (Jonathan E. Herman), Mary Armstrong (Interviewee), Bernard Behrens (Dr. Neils Johanssen), Ivan Bonar (Interviewee), Ron Frazier (Interviewee), Bruce Frank (Interviewee), Elizabeth Gill (Interviewee), June Kim (Hiroshima Interviewee), George Morfogen (Interviewee), Duncan Ross (Interviewee), Bill Saito (Hiroshima Interviewee), Kenneth Tigar (Dr. Abraham Sczrsma), John Walsh (Interviewee), Steve Arvin Interviewee(), Edwin Bernstein (Interviewee), Wanda Bowe (Interviewee), Robert Buckingham (Interviewee), Judie Carroll (Interviewee), Marian A. Carter (Interviewee), Kelly Condon (Interviewee), William A. Gimble Jr. Special Bulletin(Interviewee), William J. Ghinta (Interviewee), Liberty Godshall (Interviewee), Ray Godshall (Interviewee), Virginia Gourdin (Interviewee), Steven Ledford (Interviewee), Marc Levy (Interviewee), Michael Madsen (Jimmy Lenox), Robert Marks (Interviewee), Joe Mays (Interviewee), Arthur McDonald Interviewee(), David Moses (Interviewee), Arthur R. Nuzzo (Interviewee), Ellen Ren (Interviewee), Adrian Ricard (Interviewee), Steven M. Sawyer (Interviewee), Sadina H. Terry (Interviewee), Jack Thompson (Tennessee Senator), Celestine Turner (Interviewee), David VandeBrake (Interviewee), Elizabeth Young (Interviewee), Sam Youngblood (Interviewee), Randolph Hille (Politician), John Wesley (Bernard Frost)

LogBook entry and review by Earl Green

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1980s Miniseries V

V – Part I

VTV journalist Mike Donovan and his soundman are risking life and limb to cover a rebel uprising in El Salvador when they stumble into the biggest story of the 20th century – gigantic flying saucers appear around the globe, hovering over major world capitols. The world – and the media – watches and waits nervously over several hours as the spacecraft simply sit there. After a long wait – long enough for Donovan to jet back to New York – the alien ships finally send a signal, requesting a meeting with the Secretary General of the United Nations. Donovan is assigned to cover the meeting, which appears to go well – as does Donovan’s reunion with his old flame, reporter Kristine Walsh. The Visitors, as they call themselves, appear to be human, but they request Earth’s help to overcome an environmental disaster on their home planet. In exchange, they offer medical and technological advances, a deal that’s almost too good to be true. And as eager as the Visitors are to solicit humanity’s help, human scientists are just as eager to find out what makes the aliens tick. Dr. Julie Parrish learns that a colleague of hers has obtained a tissue sample from one of the Visitors, but when that colleague disappears and another is framed for involvement in an anti-Visitor conspiracy, Julie begins to suspect that something else is motivating the Visitors. Scientists around the world are to register their identities and whereabouts with the Visitors, and other scientists, including a colleague of anthropologist Robert Maxwell, simply disappear under mysterious circumstances. Donovan takes it upon himself to sneak aboard one of the Visitors’ ships to shoot video that hasn’t been approved by the media-savvy aliens – and there he discovers their true nature and their true plans for Earth. But when he tries to reveal what he’s discovered to the rest of the world, he becomes a marked man.

Order the DVDwritten by Kenneth Johnson
directed by Kenneth Johnson
music by Joe Harnell

Cast: Marc Singer (Mike Donovan), Faye Grant (Dr. Julie Parrish), Jane Badler (Diana), Michael Durrell (Robert Maxwell), Michael Wright (Elias Taylor), Blair Tefkin (Robin Maxwell), Neva Patterson (Eleanor Dupres), David Packer (Daniel Bernstein), Tommy Peterson (John Brooks), Peter Nelson (Brian), Bonnie Bartlett (Lynn Bernstein), Leonardo Cimino (Abraham Bernstein), Richard Herd (John), Evan Kim (Tony), Richard Lawson (Dr. Benjamin Taylor), George Morfogen (Stanley Bernstein), Andrew Prine (Steven), Hansford Rowe (Arthur Dupres), Jenny Sullivan (Kristine Walsh), Penelope Windust (Kathleen Maxwell), Michael Alldredge (Bill Graham), Camila Ashland (Ruby Engels), Frank Ashmore (Martin), Jason Bernard (Caleb Taylor), Michael Bond (role unknown), Rafael Campos (Sancho Gomez), Diane Civita (Harmony Moore), Viveka Davis (Polly Maxwell), Robert Englund (Willie), Ron Hajak (Denny), Mary-Alan Hokanson (Ruth Barnes), David Hooks (Dr. Metz), Joanna Kerns (Margie Donovan), Jenny Neumann (Barbara), William Russ (Brad), Michael Swan (Bob Briggs), Stephanie Faulkner (Assistant Director), Tom Fuccello (Burke), Wiley Harker (Secretary General of the U.N.), Dick Harwood (Director), Myron Healey (Arch Quinton), Bonnie Johns (role unknown), Eric Johnston (Sean Donovan), Curt Lowens (Dr. Maurice Jankowski), Marin May (Katie Maxwell), Mike Monahan (role unknown), Jennifer Perito (Resistance Member), Clete Roberts (Newscaster), Nathan Roberts (himself), Howard K. Smith (himself), Robert Vandenberg (Rebel Camp Leader), Momo Yashima (role unknown)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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1980s Miniseries V

V – Part II

VA widespread backlash against the Visitors has begun, and the Visitors have begun to strike back. Anticipating the need to coerce Donovan into remaining silent, or to lure him to his death, the aliens have kidnapped his young son Sean, and they’ve flattened an entire neighborhood to do it. The Visitors step up their efforts to integrate themselves into human society, and some of their methods have taken on a sinister tone, including the “Visitors’ Friends” youth group. Daniel Bernstein, a troubled teenager, joins up and turns in his own family when his grandfather – a Holocaust survivor – offers shelter to the Maxwells during the worldwide roundup of scientists. Julie Parrish, having narrowly escaped the Visitors herself, begins to assemble an organized resistance. Donovan and Tony’s attempt to rescue some of the humans being rounded up ends in disaster; Tony is killed and Donovan is captured. But once aboard the mothership, he discovers that he’s not on his own – the Visitors have a resistance within their own ranks, a fifth column quietly rising up against the conquest orders of the Visitors’ Supreme Leader, and more specifically against Diana and the pleasure she seems to take in executing those orders. The leader of the Visitors’ resistance, Martin, smuggles Donovan back to Earth, where a chance encounter brings Donovan into contact with Julie and the resistance. But just as there are traitors among the Visitors, the resistance has also been betrayed from within.

Order the DVDwritten by Kenneth Johnson
directed by Kenneth Johnson
music by Joe Harnell

Cast: Marc Singer (Mike Donovan), Faye Grant (Dr. Julie Parrish), Jane Badler (Diana), Michael Durrell (Robert Maxwell), Michael Wright (Elias Taylor), Blair Tefkin (Robin Maxwell), Neva Patterson (Eleanor Dupres), David Packer (Daniel Bernstein), Tommy Peterson (John Brooks), Peter Nelson (Brian), Bonnie Bartlett (Lynn Bernstein), Leonardo Cimino (Abraham Bernstein), Richard Herd (John), Evan Kim (Tony), Richard Lawson (Dr. Benjamin Taylor), George Morfogen (Stanley Bernstein), Andrew Prine (Steven), Hansford Rowe (Arthur Dupres), Jenny Sullivan (Kristine Walsh), Penelope Windust (Kathleen Maxwell), Michael Alldredge (Bill Graham), Camila Ashland (Ruby Engels), Frank Ashmore (Martin), Jason Bernard (Caleb Taylor), Michael Bond (role unknown), Rafael Campos (Sancho Gomez), Diane Civita (Harmony Moore), Viveka Davis (Polly Maxwell), Robert Englund (Willie), Ron Hajak (Denny), Mary-Alan Hokanson (Ruth Barnes), David Hooks (Dr. Metz), Joanna Kerns (Margie Donovan), Jenny Neumann (Barbara), William Russ (Brad), Michael Swan (Bob Briggs), Stephanie Faulkner (Assistant Director), Tom Fuccello (Burke), Wiley Harker (Secretary General of the U.N.), Dick Harwood (Director), Myron Healey (Arch Quinton), Bonnie Johns (role unknown), Eric Johnston (Sean Donovan), Curt Lowens (Dr. Maurice Jankowski), Marin May (Katie Maxwell), Mike Monahan (role unknown), Jennifer Perito (Resistance Member), Clete Roberts (Newscaster), Nathan Roberts (himself), Howard K. Smith (himself), Robert Vandenberg (Rebel Camp Leader), Momo Yashima (role unknown)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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1980s Miniseries V

V: The Final Battle – Part I

VThe Visitor occupation of Earth continues, and so do the resistance’s struggles to stay unified. A hit-and-run raid on a Visitor food processing facility turns disastrous thanks to unforseen improvements in the aliens’ armor, and Donovan worries that without a victory, and soon, the resistance will lose what little quiet support it has from the general public. Robert Maxwell, in the meantime, has a dilemma of his own – his daughter Robin is pregnant, and despite his attempts to be supportive, she’s not breathing a word about who the father might be. A major press event at a hospital in Los Angeles provides what Donovan thinks might be the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the Visitors’ vulnerability to the public, but getting past the security at the event will be a challenge – especially when Donovan is still on his own mission to retrieve his son Sean from the Visitors’ food storage facility on the mothership. During one of Elias’ many secretive visits to the hospital to steal medical supplies, he captures a live Visitor prisoner – the seemingly harmless Willie and his human friend Harmony – and brings them back to the secret resistance headquarters. Julie takes the opportunity to run experiments on Willie to try to find a weakness in the Visitors, and only then does Robin Maxwell admit that her baby is a human-Visitor hybrid, and demands an abortion. But when Julie examines Robin, it quickly becomes apparent that aborting the fetus would kill the girl in the process. And on the night of the Visitor leader’s announcement at the hospital, the aliens are finally unmasked – on live worldwide TV – in the resistance’s boldest raid yet. But this victory comes at a high price as Julie is captured by Diana’s forces.

Order the DVDteleplay by Brian Taggert and Peggy Goldman
story by Lillian Weezer & Peggy Goldman & Faustus Buck & Diane Frolov and Harry & Renee Longstreet
directed by Richard T. Heffron
music by Barry de Vorzon & Joseph Conlan

Cast: Marc Singer (Mike Donovan), Faye Grant (Dr. Julie Parrish), Jane Badler (Diana), Michael Durrell (Robert Maxwell), Michael Wright (Elias Taylor), Blair Tefkin (Robin Maxwell), Neva Patterson (Eleanor Dupres), David Packer (Daniel Bernstein), Robert Englund (Willie), Richard Herd (John), Thomas Hill (Father Doyle), Michael Ironside (Ham Tyler), Peter Nelson (Brian), Andrew Prine (Steven), Sandy Simpson (Mark), Denise Galik (Maggie), Jason Bernard (Caleb Taylor), Rafael Campos (Sancho Gomez), Hansford Rowe (Arthur Dupres), Frank Ashmore (Martin), Diane Civita (Harmony Moore), Viveka Davis (Polly Maxwell), Marin May (Katie Maxwell), Jenny O’Hara (Jenny), Jenny Sullivan (Christine Walsh), Mark Taylor (Dr. Fred King), Camila Ashlend (Ruby Engels), Greta Blackburn (Lorraine), Eric Johnston (Sean Donovan), Dick Miller (Dan Pascal), Stack Pierce (Visitor Captain), Don Starr (Dr. Walker)

Notes: Pascal’s high-tech counterfeiting equipment is so high-tech that it makes the same sound effects as Spock’s science station on the bridge of the starship Enterprise. The music composed by Barry DeVorzon and Joseph Conlan for the second and third episodes of The Final Battle were replaced on one week’s notice by future Star Trek: The Next Generation maestro Dennis McCarthy. Though included in the credits of the first episode, Michael Ironside doesn’t appear until the opening scenes of the second episode.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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1980s Miniseries V

V: The Final Battle – Part II

VThe resistance gets an unexpected, and unwanted, offer of help from a pair of hard-nosed mercenaries named Ham Tyler and Chris Farber. Donovan and Tyler go way back – Donovan knows Tyler as a soldier of fortune who’ll fight any war he’s paid to. But Tyler brings a token of goodwill – a new kind of ammo that’s highly efffective against the Visitors’ new armor – and a warning that an alien offensive againt the resistance’s headquarters is mere moments away. Tyler and Farber cover the resistance fighters as they make their escape, destroying their old headquarters – and many of the alien attackers – in the process. The resistance finds a new headquarters, but Tyler insists that it should find new management too: a worldwide movement to drive the Visitors off of Earth has formed, and while Donovan’s cell is getting highly visible results, it’s not coordinating with the resistance movement worldwide, with potentially disastrous results. On the Visitors’ mothership, Diana tries to condition Julie, but she won’t break until Diana uses the most extreme measures available to her, which could kill Julie before they succeed in brainwashing her. But Diana has other obstacles to her power as well, in the form of another mothership which arrives under the command of Pamela, her superior.

Martin and the fifth column within the Visitors’ ranks stage an incident to convince Diana and Pamela that Julie and the other prisoners would be more secure on Earth, where Tyler helps to mount a daring raid to rescue her. Even after the raid – which costs Ruby’s life – Tyler is firmly convinced that Julie has been turned to the Visitors’ side. Donovan still believes in her enough to take Julie along on the next resistance raid, this time on a water pumping facility that could leave California a desert within a month. After the pumping station is destroyed, however, Diana plays her trump card – she offers to exchange Donovan’s son for Donovan himself. Aboard the mothership, Diana injects Donovan with a truth drug and forces him to reveal his fifth column contact. When Martin is exposed, he helps Donovan escape. And in the new resistance headquarters, Robin Maxwell is giving birth…and the baby isn’t quite human.

Order the DVDteleplay by Brian Taggert and Diane Frolov
story by Lillian Weezer & Faustus Buck & Diane Frolov & Peggy Goldman
directed by Richard T. Heffron
music by Dennis McCarthy
additional music by Barry de Vorzon & Joseph Conlan

Cast: Marc Singer (Mike Donovan), Faye Grant (Dr. Julie Parrish), Jane Badler (Diana), Michael Durrell (Robert Maxwell), Michael Wright (Elias Taylor), Blair Tefkin (Robin Maxwell), Neva Patterson (Eleanor Dupres), David Packer (Daniel Bernstein), Robert Englund (Willie), Richard Herd (John), Thomas Hill (Father Doyle), Michael Ironside (Ham Tyler), Peter Nelson (Brian), Andrew Prine (Steven), Sandy Simpson (Mark), Denise Galik (Maggie), Jason Bernard (Caleb Taylor), Rafael Campos (Sancho Gomez), Sarah Douglas (Pamela), Hansford Rowe (Arthur Dupres), Frank Ashmore (Martin), Diane Civita (Harmony Moore), Viveka Davis (Polly Maxwell), Mickey Jones (Chris Farber), Marin May (Katie Maxwell), Camila Ashlend (Ruby Engels), Greta Blackburn (Lorraine), Eric Johnston (Sean Donovan), Dick Miller (Dan Pascal), Stack Pierce (Visitor Captain), Don Starr (Dr. Walker)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
1980s Miniseries V

V: The Final Battle – Part III

VRobin gives birth to two babies, one human with reptilian traits, and the other one completely reptilian. The reptilian infant dies, and during the autopsy Julie and Robert find bacteria that could be used as a nerve gas against the Visitors. Meanwhile, Robin’s other baby, named Elizabeth, grows at a startling rate, appearing to be a five year old human girl within days. Donovan, Tyler and Caleb mount another raid to find a Visitor to test the biological agent on, and by chance they manage to grab Brian, the father of Robin’s baby. Robin herself tests the gas on Brian, and it proves to be lethally effective – and harmless to humans. Alarmed by the fact that she has seen her own father killed before her eyes, Father Doyle abandons the resistance and takes Elizabeth to Diana, fearing that the child may be the next guinea pig. Martin warns Donovan that if the nerve gas is used, Diana may opt to activate the motherships’ self-destruct mechanism, which could easily obliterate the planet, but the attack plan moves forward anyway – though Donovan has to face the fact that his son has probably been converted by Diana, and uses Sean to feed false attack information to the Visitors. Tyler leads an attack on the Visitors’ ground headquarters, while Donovan and Julie lead an assault on Diana’s mothership, and the worldwide resistance disperses the toxin into Earth’s atmosphere. Even as the other motherships retreat into space, Diana insists on keeping her ship where it is to ensure Earth’s destruction with the doomsday device.

Order the DVDteleplay by Brian Taggert and Faustus Buck
story by Lillian Weezer & Faustus Buck & Diane Frolov & Peggy Goldman
directed by Richard T. Heffron
music by Dennis McCarthy

Cast: Marc Singer (Mike Donovan), Faye Grant (Dr. Julie Parrish), Jane Badler (Diana), Michael Durrell (Robert Maxwell), Michael Wright (Elias Taylor), Blair Tefkin (Robin Maxwell), Neva Patterson (Eleanor Dupres), David Packer (Daniel Bernstein), Robert Englund (Willie), Richard Herd (John), Thomas Hill (Father Doyle), Michael Ironside (Ham Tyler), Peter Nelson (Brian), Andrew Prine (Steven), Sandy Simpson (Mark), Denise Galik (Maggie), Jason Bernard (Caleb Taylor), Rafael Campos (Sancho Gomez), Sarah Douglas (Pamela), Frank Ashmore (Martin), Jenny Beck (Elizabeth Maxwell), Diane Civita (Harmony Moore), Viveka Davis (Polly Maxwell), Mickey Jones (Chris Farber), Marin May (Katie Maxwell), Greta Blackburn (Lorraine), Brandy Gold (Elizabeth Maxwell, 5 years old), Eric Johnston (Sean Donovan), Stack Pierce (Visitor Captain), Clete Roberts (Alien), George Morfogen (Stanley Bernstein)

LogBook entry by Earl Green