Tag: Season Finale

Categories
Classic Season 11 Doctor Who

Planet of the Spiders

Doctor WhoPast events catch up with the Doctor in an unexpected way. A race of evil giant spiders on Metebelis 3 is looking for one of their planet’s perfect blue crystals to complete a crystal “web” that will broadcast the will of their leader, the Great One (not Jackie Gleason), across the entire universe. But the Doctor stole that crystal during a previous visit without realizing its significance, and his actions have drawn unwanted attention to Earth. The spiders use a monastery in the English countryside as their gateway to Earth, taking over the minds of a criminally-minded man named Lupton whose meditations have failed to turn him into a better person. In the end, the Doctor is obliged to return the crystal to prevent Earth from being overrun by the spiders – but the personal cost will be very high.

written by Robert Sloman
directed by Barry Letts
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), Richard Franklin (Mike Yates), John Levene (Sergeant Benton), John Dearth (Lupton), Terence Lodge (Moss), Andrew Staines (Keaver), Christopher Burgess (Barnes), Carl Forgione (Land), Cyril Shaps (Professor Clegg), Kevin Lindsay (Cho-Je), John Kane (Tommy), Pat Gorman (Soldier), Chubby Oates (Policeman), Terry Walsh (Man with boat), Michael Pinder (Hopkins), Ysanne Churchman, Kismet Delgado, Maureen Morris (Spider voices), Ralph Arliss (Tuar), Geoffrey Morris (Sabor), Joanna Monro (Rega), Gareth Hunt (Arak), Jenny Laird (Neska), Walter Randall (Captain), Max Faulkner (Second Captain), Maureen Morris (Great One), George Cormack (K’anpo)

Broadcast from May 4 through June 8, 1974

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 2 Tomorrow People

The Doomsday Men – Part 4: The Shuttlecock

Tomorrow PeopleWhen he regains consciousness, Stephen reports Douglas’ kidnapping both to John and Elizabeth, and to the headmaster of the school…who seems strangely unconcerned, as if he doesn’t want to know the details. With fellow student Paul, Stephen tracks the headmaster to a cabin in the woods where Douglas is being “held”, though not against his will. If the world is to be spared nuclear annihilation, Stephen must help Douglas realize the error of his grandfather’s warlike ways.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Roger Price
directed by Roger Price
music by Dudley Simpson

Tomorrow PeopleCast: Elizabeth Adare (Elizabeth), Nicholas Young (John), Peter Vaughn Clarke (Stephen), Philip Gilbert (TIM), Christopher Chittell (Chris), Eric Young (Lee Wan), Arnold Peters (Dr. Laird), William Relton (Douglas), Simon Gipps Kent (Paul), Lindsay Campbell (Lieutenant General McLelland), Derek Murcott (Major Longford)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Land Of The Lost Original Season 1

Circle

Land Of The LostWhen Will dives underwater at a watering hole not far from the Marshalls’ makeshift residence, he finds an exit to a dry chamber, full of hibernating Sleestaks. Enik is also there, trapped in this time just like the Marshalls are, but he has a disturbing theory that the Marshalls shouldn’t be here. For anyone to leave through a time portal, someone else must arrive through a time portal, and Enik feels that the Marshalls’ arrival triggered a time paradox, one that only the Marshalls can resolve. But if Enik’s escape depends on getting the Marshalls out of this dimension by any means necessary, can they trust him?

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Larry Niven and David Gerrold
directed by Dennis Steinmetz
music by Jimmie Haskell

Cast: Spencer Milligan (Rick Marshall), Wesley Eure (Will Marshall), Kathy Coleman (Penny Marshall), Walker Edmiston (Enik), Scott Fullerton (Sleestak), Jack Tingley (Sleestak), Mike Westra (Sleestak)

Land Of The LostNotes: This episode basically loops around to the beginning of the series, implying either a time loop, or at the very least that the Marshalls will experience the same events again before their adventures continue (in the second season, of course).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 1 Star Blazers

Earth: Yamato Returns

Star BlazersD minus 131 days: After a one-month layover on Iscandar, the Argo heads back to Earth – but Desslok has escaped with one last Gamilon destroyer and plans to exact his final vengeance on the Star Force. But even Desslok’s sneak attack goes wrong when the Argo goes into warp – and rematerializes around the Gamilon vessel. Desslok takes advantage of the collision and the chaos, leading his men into the belly of the Argo and pumping a radioactive sleeping gas into the ship to render the crew unconscious. Nova makes a last-ditch attempt to save the crew by prematurely activating the radiation-cleansing Cosmo DNA machine, but nearly pays for it with her life – she inhales enough of Desslok’s gas to fall into a coma. The Star Force returns to Earth at last, but the first day of the human race’s salvation will be Captain Avatar’s last day alive.

Order the DVDswritten by Keisuke Fujikawa & Eiichi Yamamoto
directed by Leiji Matsumoto
music by Hiroshi Miyagawa

Season 1 Voice Cast: Kenneth Meseroll (Derek Wildstar), Tom Tweedy (Mark Venture), Amy Howard (Nova), Eddie Allen (Leader Desslok), Lydia Leeds (Starsha), other actors unknown

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 12 Doctor Who

Revenge Of The Cybermen

Doctor WhoThe Cybermen are out to pulverize the planetoid Voga, a small body rich in gold. As we learn here for the first time, gold is one of the only substances capable of shutting down the Cybermen, and Voga’s wealth of the precious metal was key to the defeat of the Cybermen in the “Cyber Wars” (evidently, the Cybermen are acquainted with Usenet flame-fests too). The Cybermen’s plan to destroy Voga hinges on the elimination of a manned satellite that stands sentinel near the planetoid – a satellite that will later become the Nerva space station that will preserve the human race. But the Cybermen don’t count on the arrival of the Doctor, Sarah and Harry – or on the willpower and ability of the Vogans to defend their homeworld.

Download this episodewritten by Gerry Davis
directed by Michael E. Briant
music by Carey Blyton

Guest Cast: Alec Wallis (Warner), Ronald Leigh-Hunt (Stevenson), Jeremy Wilkin (Kellman), William Marlowe (Lester), David Collings (Vorus/Wilkins), Michael Wisher (Magrik/Colville/Vogan voice), Christopher Robbie (Cyberleader), Melville Jones (Cyberman), Kevin Stoney (Tyrum), Brian Grellis (Sheprah)

Broadcast from April 19 through May 10, 1975

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Original Series 1 Survivors

A Beginning

Survivors (1970s series)A trade with another settlement – some of the gasoline from Donny’s tanker for seed – turns disastrous when the seed proves to be useless. Open dissent breaks out among the survivors, and Abby has had her fill of having to make all the decisions. Another group of plague survivors appears, though they have one seriously ill woman with them, and bear a warning about a more aggressive group of survivors beginning to chase smaller groups off of their own land. The woman’s illness forces Greg to consider the safety of the rest of his group and deny them access to the Grange. When the new group leaves, however, they leave the sick woman near the Grange to die on her own; Greg advocates letting her do precisely that, while Abby decides to take her in instead. A serious disagreement erupts, and this time Abby opts to leave the Grange; after several hours of walking, she encounters survivalist Jimmy Garland, still thriving in the post-plague world, and he takes her in for the night. Greg, Arthur and Paul decide to reach out to other nearby settlements and groups, even the Waterhouse, to form a mutual defense pact. As she recovers, the sick woman reveals that she has met a boy named Peter Grant.

written by Terry Nation
directed by Pennant Roberts
music by Anthony Isaac

Cast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Hana-Maria Pravda (Mrs. Cohen), Michael Gover (Arthur Russell), Hugh Walters (Vic Thatcher), Chris Tranchell (Paul Pitman), Eileen Helsby (Charmian Wentworth), Richard Heffer (Jimmy Garland), Harry Markham (Burton), Annie Irving (Ruth), Stephen Dudley (John), Tanya Ronder (Lizzie)

SurvivorsNotes: This is Carolyn Seymour’s last appearance in Survivors; in a Survivors-focused episode of the BBC’s retrospective series The Cult Of…, Seymour reveals that she was struggling with alcoholism during the making of the first series. She went on to appear in Space: 1999, a few guest shots on Quantum Leap as Zoey, the hologram advisor of the “Evil Leaper” from the show’s later seasons, three episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation (Contagion, First Contact, Face Of The Enemy), Babylon 5, and a brief stint in what was intended to be a recurring role in Star Trek: Voyager (Cathexis, Persistence Of Vision), among many, many other appearances and video game voice-over roles. Jimmy Garland and the Waterhouse were last seen in Garland’s War.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 13 Doctor Who

The Seeds of Doom

Doctor WhoThe Doctor is called in to help identify a vegetable pod found buried in the Antarctic tundra. But another party has already learned of the pod’s presence – the eccentric botanist Harrison Chase, who sends one of his hired guns and one of his scientists to procure the pod by any means necessary. At the south pole, the Doctor makes two dreadful discoveries: the pod is a Krynoid, an alien species of omnivore plant life which has been known to destroy all animal life on entire planets, and the overeager scientists at the Antarctic base have revived the Krynoid pod with ultraviolet light, causing it to open and take over the mind and body of one of them. Noting that Krynoid pods always arrive in pairs, the Doctor quickly finds another specimen of the deadly plant in the nearby ice just as Chase’s men arrive under false pretenses, taking the second pod and leaving the scientists, the Doctor and Sarah for dead. Help arrives, and the Doctor and Sarah track the pod down to Harrison Chase, who is delighted at the discovery of a breed of meat-devouring plant life – for he prefers plants to the company of humans. Under Chase’s obsessed care, the Krynoid soon grows to enormous proportions, ready to consume all animal life on Earth unless the Doctor can stop it.

Download this episodewritten by Robert Banks Stewart
directed by Douglas Camfield
music by Geoffrey Burgon

Guest Cast: Tony Beckley (Harrison Chase), John Challis (Scorby), John Gleeson (Charles Winlett/Krynoid humanoid), Michael McStay (Derek Moberly), Hubert Rees (John Stevenson), Kenneth Gilbert (Dunbar), Seymour Green (Hargreaves), Michael Barrington (Sir Colin Thackeray), Mark Jones (Arnold Keeler), Ian Fairbairn (Dr. Chester), Alan Chuntz (Chauffeur), Sylvia Coleridge (Amelia Ducat), David Masterman, Harry Fielder, Ian Elliott (Guards), John Achson (Major Beresford), Ray Barron (Sgt. Henderson), Mark Jones (Krynoid’s voice), Keith Ashley (Secretary)

Broadcast from January 31 through March 6, 1976

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Season 1 Space: 1999

The Last Enemy

Space: 1999The moon approaches a star with two life-supporting planets in identical and opposing orbits, neither world ever seeing the other directly. Unexpectedly, a battleship from one of those planets approaches the moon, and Koenig puts Moonbase Alpha on red alert, assuming that the massive vessel’s intent is hostile. But it seems the aliens already have the upper hand – none of the battle-ready Eagles can lift off from the moon. The main computer also shows signs of being influenced from an outside force, and then Alpha’s defense screens and communications fail. Moonbase Alpha is powerless to prevent the battleship from landing and launching missiles – but the base isn’t the target. The aliens are using the moon to launch a vicious attack on the other planet, a target their missiles would normally never reach thanks to the star’s gravity. A counterstrike targets the moon – and before a signal can be sent to either of the warring planets, Moonbase Alpha is a target for both sides in a bitter, centuries-old war to the death.

Order the DVDswritten by Bob Kellett
directed by Bob Kellett
music by Barry Gray
additional music by Vic Elms

Guest Cast: Caroline Mortimer (Dione), Prentis Hancock (Paul Morrow), Clifton Jones (David Kano), Zienia Merton (Sandra Benes), Nick Tate (Alan Carter), Maxine Audley (Theia), Kevin Stoney (Talos), Carolyn Courage (First girl)

Notes: It wasn’t originally intended to be last, but this episode wound up closing the first season on its first UK broadcast. It was the 18th episode produced.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 2 Space: 1999

The Dorcons

Space: 1999The moon nears some kind of drifting artificial satellite in deep space. But when the object is scanned, it blasts through Moonbase Alpha’s shields with a powerful scanning beam of its own, rendering the crew immobile and damaging equipment. The beam settles on Maya, awakening her and subjecting her to extraordinary pain. A Dorcon ship appears and demand that Koenig hand Maya over – or watch his entire crew die. Koenig refuses, and a vicious attack ensues. Alan Carter leads a small fleet of Eagles into combat, but both the Eagles and Alpha suffer heavy damage while the Dorcon ship is virtually untouched. The Dorcons and Psychons are sworn enemies, and the Dorcons have the ability to stop a Psychon transformation in mid-change – and to drain a Psychon’s life force to renew their own. Faced with Alpha’s destruction, Koenig – at Maya’s own insistence – gives up the fight and hands her over to the Dorcons. But an insurrection within the Dorcons’ own ranks could give Maya and the rest of Moonbase Alpha a means of escape.

Order the DVDswritten by Johnny Byrne
directed by Tom Clegg
music by Derek Wadsworth

Guest Cast: Tony Anholt (Tony Verdeschi), Nick Tate (Alan Carter), Patrick Troughton (The Archon), Ann Firbank (Consul Verda), Gerry Sundquist (Malic), Alibe Parsons (Alibe), Laurence Harrington (Stewart), Kevan Sheehan (1st Dorcon operative), Michael Halsey (1st Dorcon soldier), Hamish Patrick (Command Center Alphan), Hazel McBridge (Female medical officer)

Notes: The late Patrick Troughton was, of course, best known as the second incarnation of Doctor Who.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Logan's Run

Carousel

Logan's RunLogan, Jessica and Rem stop to explore on foot, but Logan is hit by a tranquilizer dart from a hidden attacker, and Rem and Jessica vanish before his eyes before he loses consciousness. Rem and Jessica find themselves in a place devoid of any features, with a man claiming he represents a “higher authority,” though he declines to say exactly which authority that is. He claims that he and his kind are exploring Logan’s memories, but at the result of temporarily erasing Logan’s memories. The amnesiac Logan is apprehended by Francis. Francis asks Logan of Jessica and Rem’s whereabouts, but Logan remembers neither of them, and he certainly doesn’t remember abandoning the principles of the City of Domes and going on the run himself. Logan is brought back to the City of Domes and stands before the Council of Elders, who promise to let him live past the age of 30 if he will make a public testimony at the next Carousel that there is no such place as Sanctuary. Rem and Jessica are allowed to return to the City to save Logan, but when Jessica brings his plight to the attention of the underground network of runners still inside the City, they have a different assignment for her: she must eliminate Logan before his subconscious knowledge of the runners and Sanctuary resurfaces for the benefit of the Sandmen.

Download this episodewritten by D.C. Fontana and Richard L. Breen Jr.
story by Richard L. Breen Jr.
directed by Irving J. Moore
music from stock music library

Guest Cast: Rosanne Katon (Diane), Ross Bickel (Michael), Wright King (Jonathon), Morgan Woodward (Morgan), Melody Anderson (Sheila), Regis J. Cordic (Darrel), Gary Swanson (Peter), Burton Cooper (First Man), William Molloy (Second Man)

Logan's RunNotes: This episode establishes that Logan has been running for nearly a year. This was the final episode of Logan’s Run broadcast by CBS. Following numerous time slot changes, an intermittent schedule of new episodes, and a fall 1977 schedule that had pitted the science fiction show – traditionally seen as the domain of male viewers – against Monday Night Football at a time when ABC’s weekly football game completely dominated television ratings. Three further episodes were produced, but not aired as part of CBS’ run; they premiered later in syndicated packages sold to such up-and-coming cable “superstations” as Ted Turner’s WTBS. The synopses of the remaining episodes, since their premiere dates are unknown (regardless of what the user-generated content on IMDb says), can be accessed by clicking on the show logo above.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 15 Doctor Who

The Invasion Of Time

Doctor WhoThe Doctor returns, unbidden, to Gallifrey, claiming the Presidency of the High Council. Leela knows something is wrong, as she has witnessed his meetings with a shadowy group of aliens prior to returning to his homeworld. The Time Lords are aghast at the Doctor’s breach of their power structure, to say nothing of him bringing an alien among them. But when the aliens Leela saw earlier materialize in Gallifrey’s Capitol, all hell breaks loose – the Doctor orders many Time Lords, including his old mentor Borusa, expelled to the harsh surface of Gallifrey beyond the city domes. Leela is also thrown out, though she finds herself quite at home with the primitive nomadic tribes of homeless non-Time Lords known as the Shobogans. Leela rallies both Shobogans and exiled Time Lords to mount a resistance against the Doctor and his shady Vardan allies, but when the invasion is put down, everyone discovers that it was a ruse to allow a far more powerful enemy to slip into the heart of Gallifrey.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Anthony Read and Graham Williams
directed by Gerald Blake
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Milton Johns (Kelner), John Arnatt (Borusa), Stan McGowan (Vardan Leader), Chris Tranchell (Andred), Dennis Edwards (Gomer), Tom Kelly (Vardan), Reginald Jessup (Savar), Charles Morgan (Gold Usher), Hilary Ryan (Rodan), Max Faulkner (Nesbin), Christopher Christou (Chancellery Guard), Michael Harley (Bodyguard), Ray Callaghan (Ablif), Gai Smith (Presta), Michael Mundell (Jasko), Eric Danot (Guard), Derek Deadman (Stor), Stuart Fell (Sontaran)

Broadcast from February 4 through March 11, 1978

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Blake's 7 Season 1

Orac

Blake's 7Gan, Avon, Vila and Jenna have fallen ill with potentially lethal radiation sickness after spending too much time on the irradiated surface of Cephlon. Their only hope is that the mysterious Ensor that Blake plans to contact on Aristo has a supply of drugs to cure the illness. On the surface, however, Travis and Servalan have arrived early and make their way slowly and clumsily to Ensor’s underground installation. Blake and Cally teleport to the surface as well and are accosted by a flying object that gives them precise instructions to reach a hidden lift leading directly to Ensor’s laboratory. They find old Ensor dying slowly – he needs the power cells his son was trying to deliver implanted soon. Blake and Cally take Ensor and his invention, Orac, through the tunnels to reach the surface, but a skirmish with Travis slows progress and Ensor dies of shock en route to the surface. Avon and Vila arrive to save Blake and Cally from Travis, and teleport back to the Liberator while Servalan vows to Travis that his career as Space Commander is finished. On the Liberator, Orac is activated and the crew discovers that Orac is actually an incredibly advanced computer capable of making short-term predictions. When asked to do so, Orac projects an image of the Liberator being destroyed in a huge fireball onto the screen…

written by Terry Nation
directed by Vere Lorrimer
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter Tuddenham (Zen), Derek Farr (Ensor / Orac), Stephen Grief (Travis), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), James Muir (Phibian), Paul Kidd (Phibian)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Amazing Spider-Man Season 1

Escort To Danger

Amazing Spider-Man (1970s series)Peter is assigned to cover an international beauty pageant in which Lisa Calderon, the daughter of a Central American president who is steering his country toward democracy, will be competing. But someone is competing with Peter to reach her: the daughter of the Calderon family’s political rival, who intends to kidnap Lisa and hold her hostage to force her father to step down. Spider-Man must save the day, but first, Peter must survive an attempt on his life by the kidnappers.

written by Duke Standefur
directed by Dennis Donnelly
music by Stu Phillips

Amazing Spider-ManCast: Nicholas Hammond (Peter Parker / Spider-Man), Robert F. Simon (J. Jonah Jameson), Chip Fields (Rita Conway), Michael Pataki (Captain Barbera), Barbara Luna (Lisa Alvarez), Harold Sakata (Matsu), Alejandro Rey (President Calderon), Madeleine Stowe (Maria Calderon), Michael Marsellos (Calderon’s Aide), Bob Minor (Klein), Lachelle Price (Miss Teenage USA), Terrence McNally (Reporter #2), Erik Stern (Reporter #1), Marc Baxley (Ted Arthur), Bruce Hayes (Emcee), Michael Santiago (Bodyguard), Selma Archerd (Pageant Director)

Notes: Though The Amazing Spider-Man attracted viewers, the expense of producing the show left CBS nervous about green-lighting a full season for the fall 1978 schedule. A short season of seven episodes – the last of which was movie-length – was ordered instead.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Jason Of Star Command Season 1

Victory Of Star Command

Jason Of Star CommandSurrounded by energy clones of Dragos, Jason and Nicole have to outthink their enemy. Dragos believes they’re both trying to escape, but Jason stays behind and hides to sabotage Dragos’ ship from within and face him in a final battle. Dragos’ unmanned drone ships launch an all-out attack on Star Command, and Star Command drains its energy reserves putting up a fierce fight. It’s now up to Jason to defeat Dragos before any further damage is inflicted, but Dragos isn’t giving up without an escape plan.

Order this series on DVDwritten by Don Heckman
directed by Arthur H. Nadel
music by Yvette Blais & Jeff Michael and Horta-Mahana

Jason Of Star CommandCast: Craig Littler (Jason), Sid Haig (Dragos), Susan O’Hanlon (Capt. Nicole Davidoff), Charlie Dell (Prof. E.J. Parsafoot), James Doohan (Commander Canarvin)

Notes: The fairly impressive space battle scenes reveal that Star Command/Space Academy can defend itself quite adequately. This brings the first season of Jason Of Star Command to a close. Where these short episodes, averaging 11 minutes each, shared a broadcast time slot with Tarzan and the Super 7, the next season would expand Jason’s adventures to a full half-hour time slot with new stories and new cast members. James Doohan would not return for that second season, returning instead to his post aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise for Star Trek: The Motion Picture (though he’d keep Commander Canarvin’s moustache even after re-enlisting with Starfleet).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 16 Doctor Who

The Armageddon Factor

Doctor WhoIn one of the better stories of the late 1970s, the Doctor, Romana and K-9 stumble into the middle of a fierce interplanetary nuclear war. The Atrios war effort is faltering, its population demoralized, because unknown to them, the Zeon war machine lives up to its name in the most literal way. Zeos is controlled by a computer, and there are no Zeons, just remote controlled attack ships. Somewhere in the darkness between the two planets lurks a third party, pulling the strings of both sides in the war. The hand of the Black Guardian becomes visible in moving the pieces in this game, and the Doctor is horrified to discover that he will have to take a life to complete the Key to Time.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Bob Baker & Dave Martin
directed by Michael Hayes
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Lalla Ward (Princess Astra), John Woodvine (Marshal), William Squire (The Shadow), Ian Saynor (Merak), Davyd Harries (Shapp), Valentine Dyall (Black Guardian), Barry Jackson (Drax), Ian Liston (Hero), Susan Skipper (Heroine), John Cannon, Harry Fielder (Guards), Iain Armstrong (Technician), Pat Gorman (Pilot), Stephen Calcutt (Super Mute)

Broadcast from January 20 through February 24, 1979

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green