Tag: Season Finale

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Season 2 Torchwood

Exit Wounds

TorchwoodAfter escaping the bomb blast, Torchwood is helpless in the face of a promise of revenge from Captain John Hart. And Captain John has another ace up his sleeve: he’s found Jack’s brother Grey, alive and grown up. When Jack returns to the Torchwood hub, John kidnaps him and forces him to watch as he sets off a devastating series of huge explosions throughout Cardiff…and then John takes Jack back in time through the rift to Cardiff in 27 A.D., where Grey is waiting. Driven mad by the torment he endured after his older brother lost track of him, Grey is now seeking revenge, and buries Jack alive. Gwen mobilizes the rest of Torchwood and finds herself having to tell the city’s police what to do – as best she can. One of the explosions has cut off external power to the Turnmill nuclear power station, and Owen races to prevent a meltdown as the rest of the team returns to the hub. They find Captain John there, who explains that he was forced to do Grey’s bidding, and claims that he can locate Jack for them. But Grey isn’t finished with the rest of the team: he shoots Toshiko at point blank range and traps Gwen, Ianto and John in the underground cells normally reserved for Weevils. Without Toshiko’s technical advice, Owen finds himself trapped at the nuclear station with a radioactive disaster imminent. Whether or not Jack can be found and can save the day, his team will never be the same – nor will his relationship with his brother.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Chris Chibnall
directed by Ashley Way
music by Murray Gold and Ben Foster

Guest Cast: Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), James Marsters (Captain John Hart), Tom Price (PC Andy), Lachlan Nieboer (Gray), Paul Kasey (Weevil), Golda Rosheuvel (Dr. Angela Connolly), Syreeta Kumar (Nira Docherty), Cornelius Macarthy (Charles Gaskell), Amy Manson (Alice Guppy)

Notes: At last, Toshiko’s presence alongside the ninth Doctor in Aliens Of London is explained – apparently, Owen was to have been sent to investigate the “space pig,” but was hungover and didn’t answer his phone. Toshiko was sent to pose as a medic instead – not exactly her forte – which explains her jumpiness when the Doctor arrived on the scene.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Doctor Who New Series Season 04

Journey’s End

Doctor WhoCaught by a glancing blow from a Dalek weapon, the Doctor’s body is involuntarily beginning the regeneration process – until the Doctor is able to divert the energy into his severed hand, benefitting from the restorative effects without changing his appearance or personality. On Earth, Sarah Jane is saved from the Daleks by Mickey Smith and Jackie Tyler, who have returned from the alternate universe after losing contact with Rose. The Dalek attack on the Torchwood Hub is halted by a defense mechanism that the late Toshiko Sato was developing, locking the Dalek into a moment of frozen time – but also trapping Ianto and Gwen inside, safe but unable to escape. To Mickey’s disgust and Jackie’s horror, Sarah surrenders herself and both of them to the Daleks, reasoning that being taken to the Dalek mothership as hostages will put her closer to the Doctor, and in a better position to help. The TARDIS is brought about the mothership by the Daleks, and the Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack step out to meet their fate – but the TARDIS doors close, trapping Donna inside. Declaring the time machine and anyone who is still inside it a threat, the Dalek Supreme orders the TARDIS dumped into the neutrino core of his own ship, where it will dissolve and surrender its energy to the Dalek war effort. But when Donna reaches for the Doctor’s severed hand, she sets other events into motion which the Daleks can’t possibly have foreseen. Davros is planning the destruction of the entire cosmos, every universe, every alternate universe, and every dimension, to prove himself a god, and nothing the Doctor says can dissuade the mad Dalek creator from his plans. Martha, Sarah, Jack, Mickey and Jackie join forces to put an end to Davros’ plan, but he has anticipated their interference. But he hasn’t anticipated Donna’s next move – and he certainly hasn’t anticipated whose help she has.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Russell T. Davies
directed by Graeme Harper
music by Murray Gold

Cast: David Tennant (The Doctor), Catherine Tate (Donna Noble), Billie Piper (Rose Tyler), Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones), John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Camille Coduri (Jackie Tyler), Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith), Adjoa Andoh (Francine Jones), Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Thomas Knight (Luke Smith), Bernard Cribbins (Wilfred Mott), Jacqueline King (Sylvia Noble), Julian Bleach (Davros), Valda Aviks (German Woman), Shobu Kapoor (Scared Woman), Elizabeth Tan (Chinese Woman), Michael Price (Liberian Man), Barney Edwards, Nick Pegg, David Hankinson, Anthony Spargo (Dalek Operators), Nicholas Briggs (Dalek voice), John Leeson (voice of K-9), Alexander Armstrong (voice of Mr. Smith)

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Sarah Jane Adventures Season 2

Enemy Of The Bane – Part 2

The Sarah Jane AdventuresSarah, Luke, Rani, Clyde and the Brigadier – with Mrs. Wormwood in tow – hide from UNIT at the flower shop. But, as Sarah suspects, it’s all a double-cross: Mrs. Wormwood has allied with Kaagh the Sontaran, and their plans for the Tunguska Scroll have nothing to do with saving Earth. Luke agrees to go with Mrs. Wormwood to keep Sarah and the others alive, but while he is her hostage, he learns that the Scroll will summon a cybernetic organism called Horath, furthering Mrs. Wormwood’s plans for conquest and revenge. When Mrs. Wormwood tries to tempt Luke with the Scroll, he takes it and makes a run for it until Kaagh stops him. At Sarah’s home, Major Cal Kilburne of UNIT is waiting to reclaim the Scroll as well, but the Brigadier discovers that Klburne’s mission isn’t exactly part of UNIT’s charter. Still held hostage by Kaagh and Mrs. Wormwood, Luke is taken to an ancient burial site that hides a dimensional portal leading to Horath – and he has no choice but to open it for them.

Get the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Phil Ford
directed by Graeme Harper
music by Sam Watts / title music by Murray Gold

Guest Cast: Mina Anwar (Gita Chandra), Ace Bhatti (Haresh Chandra), Alexander Armstrong (Mr. Smith), Samantha Bond (Mrs. Wormwood), Nicholas Courtney (Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart), Anthony O’Donnell (Kaagh), Simon Chadwick (Major Cal Kilburne)

Notes: The White Barrow site at the episode’s climax is real, though there isn’t actually a Stonehenge-style stone circle there. The end credits of both parts of Enemy Of The Bane give credit to writers Robert Holmes (creator of the Sontarans) and Henry Lincoln & Mervyn Haisman (creators of the Brigadier).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Battlestar Galactica (New Series) Season 4

Daybreak – Part Two

Battlestar GalacticaCaprica City, before the fall: Saul and Ellen Tigh drink to Bill Adama’s impending career move, but during the intense interview – bordering on an interrogation – Adama decides he’d rather be back in uniform, fading into obscurity performing ceremonial duties aboard a museum piece of a battlestar that will never see action again…

Now: Instructed to stay with the fleet to provide medical care, Doc Cottle issues Roslin with enough drugs to keep her up and moving for the mission to save Hera. Surprisingly, Baltar finally joins the mission as well. Their orders are simple: Galactica will jump into the heart of the Cylon stronghold, and Sam will communicate with the colony’s hybrid, convincing it to bring the automatic defenses’ assault on Galactica to a halt. Adama rams Galactica right down the Cylons’ throats, causing massive damage to both vessels – and giving the combined Colonial/rebel Cylon forces a perfect entrance to the colony. But even when a remorseful Boomer hands Hera back over to her parents, the fight isn’t over: Brother Cavel and his forces raid Galactica, and just when it seems Hera is safe and sound, he grabs the child and threatens to kill her unless the secret of resurrection is restored to the Cylons. This requires a group-mind link among the final five, during which all will be revealed, something which makes Tory nervous. During the link, her murder of Cally is revealed to Tyrol, who breaks the link to exact revenge. Deciding that he’s been tricked, Cavel orders his forces to open fire again, and he himself dies in the ensuing bloodbath. A stray raptor, its pilot dying, accidentally fires nukes into the heart of the Cylon colony; with Hera safely aboard, Galactica jumps away from the imminent cataclysm, on a heading for nearly-random coordinates that Starbuck has derived from musical notes written down by Hera.

But it proves to be the ship’s last jump: returning to normal space is the straw that literally breaks Galactica’s back. The battlestar will never jump again. Galactica has arrived near a habitable planet, and summons the rest of the fleet to follow. On this planet, primitive humanoids – genetically combatible with Colonials and Cylons alike – are thriving. But rather than introduce technology and concepts – and trouble – to advance the natives, Lee has a better idea: the survivors of the fleet should abandon their technology and go native, learning to live off the land anew. The Cylon centurions are dispatched in their base ship to find freedom, though no one can say with any certainty that they won’t return to this planet and wipe out the rest of the Colonials. On the ground, the crew begin making plans for a new, simpler life…but will their progeny learn from their mistakes, or repeat them?

written by Ronald D. Moore
directed by Michael Rymer
music by Bear McCreary

Guest Cast: Michael Hogan (Tigh), Aaron Douglas (Tyrol), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Michael Trucco (Sam Anders), Callum Keith Rennie (Leoben), Kate Vernon (Ellen Tigh), Rick Worthy (Simon), Mark Sheppard (Romo Lampkin), Donnelly Rhodes (Doc Cottle), Matthew Bennett (Aaron Doral), Rekha Sharma (Tory Foster), Kerry Norton (Nurse Ishay), Dean Stockwell (Brother Cavel), Brad Drybrough (Hoshi)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Red Dwarf Season 09: Back To Earth

Back To Earth – Part 3

Red DwarfFollowing a tenuous trail of clues to find the creative mind to whom they must plead their case for their continued existence, the crew find their way to the set of Coronation Street, where they track down actor Craig Charles – the man who portrayed Lister on the televised version of Red Dwarf. After dismissing the Dwarfers as either his castmates gone mad or a cocaine flashback, he reluctantly points them in the direction of the writer who created them. But when they confront him to demand to be kept alive for further adventures, the discussion quickly becomes a more violent confrontation. Can the crew escape “cancellation” if the mind behind their existence is dead?

Order the DVDswritten by Doug Naylor
directed by Doug Naylor
music by Howard Goodall

Cast: Chris Barrie (Rimmer), Craig Charles (Lister), Danny John-Jules (Cat), Robert Llewellyn (Kryten), Simon Gregson (himself), Michelle Keegan (himself), Richard O’Callaghan (Creator), Chloe Annett (Kochanski)

Note: The crew’s visit to Coronation Street plays off of the fact that Craig Charles stars in both shows, and the “real” Craig Charles’ mention about cocaine flashbacks isn’t entirely unfounded in reality, as the actor’s battles with drug addiction are nearly legendary. “Carbug” was a smart car customized with a green heat-shrink wrap (instead of a paint job) and planted-on prop pieces; the tightly-budgeted production couldn’t afford the car, so writer/director Doug Naylor bought it for himself and “loaned” it to the production.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 3 Torchwood

Children Of Earth: Day Five

TorchwoodTorchwood has been defeated, and Ianto has paid the price with his life. Jack bargains for the release of his daughter and grandson, as well as Gwen, who is reunited with Rhys and goes to inform Ianto’s family of his death – and to warn them to take their children to safety. Despite the Prime Minister’s assurances that children should return to school – in reality, a ploy to herd them together so the military can deliver them to the 456 – many families, including Ianto’s, have kept their children home. The military steps up its use of force, and any remaining pretense of civility crumbles as parents step forward to protect their children; Gwen and Rhys are on the run again. Having been informed that his children will join those being sacrificed as a publicity move to show that even high-level officials are suffering, Frobisher leaves Whitehall, goes home, murders his own family and commits suicide. Having witnessed enough of Whitehall’s dealings with the 456, the government strike team tasked with hunting down Torchwood instead springs Jack from prison to see if he can save the world yet again. Mr. Dekker and his equipment are rounded up and brought in to help Jack, but they can only reach one conclusion: one terrible sacrifice will have to be made, one child’s life to save the rest of the world’s children – and after making that call, Jack decides he’s had enough of Torchwood and enough of Earth.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Russell T. Davies
directed by Euros Lyn
music by Ben Foster

Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Peter Capaldi (John Frobisher), Nicholas Farrell (Brian Green), Susan Brown (Bridget Spears), Lucy Cohu (Alice Carter), Ian Gelder (Mr. Dekker), Cush Jumbo (Lois Habiba), Liz May Brice (Johnson), Colin McFarlane (General Pierce), Deborah Finlay (Denise Riley), Charles Abomeli (Colonel Oduya), Katy Wix (Rhiannon Davies), Rhodri Lewis (Johnny Davies), Hillary Maclean (Anna Frobisher), Luke Perry (David Davies), Aimee Davies (Mica Davies), Bear McCausland (Steven Carter), Julia Joyce (Holly Frobisher), Madeleine Rakic-Platt (Lilly Frobisher), Simon Poland (456 voice), Lorna Bennett (Female Teacher), Louise Minchin (Newsreader), Rhiannon Oliver (Mum)

Notes: If one counts Harold Saxon (in reality the Master) and presumes that his brief stint in office directly followed that of Harriet Jones (former MP for Flydale North), then assuming that Brian Green does step down following this story (and assuming that he took office after Saxon), three successive Prime Ministers have fallen in the Doctor Who/Torchwood universe.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Death In Blackpool

Doctor Who: Death In BlackpoolHaving survived the adventure with the spiders of Metebelis 3, Lucie is ready for normalcy: Christmas at home with her family in Blackpool, including her Aunty Pat. The Doctor is surprised to see that Aunty Pat – actually the Zygon warlord Hagoth – has aged considerably, the result of a Zygon disease. But something is amiss: the TARDIS has landed in 2008, and Lucie is still at her home, not yet having begun her travels with the Doctor. A mysterious driver in a yellow car stalks the time travelers, and then finally strikes: Lucie ends up the victim of a hit-and-run, hospitalized and in a coma – but someone else is in her head with her, trying to rob her of her will to live… someone who’s there because Hagoth has made a critical error in judgement.

Order this CDwritten by Alan Barnes
directed by Barnaby Edwards
music by Howard Carter

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Sheridan Smith (Lucie Miller), Helen Lederer (Aunty Pat), David Schofield (Billy), Jon Glover (Father Christmas / Security Guard), Harriet Kershaw (Natasha / Marika / Receptionist), Nicholas Briggs (Shopkeeper)

Timeline: after Worldwide Web and before Situation Vacant

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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2000s Series Season 1 V

Red Sky

V (2000s series)With Tyler determined to take part in the Visitors’ “live aboard” program, Erica gives up on trying to convice him not to move aboard Anna’s ship, instead seeing an opportunity to get herself aboard and destroy Anna’s army of genetically-bred killers before they hatch. Ryan’s pregnant wife is kidnpped by V trackers and taken to Anna’s ship, where security has been beefed up in the wake of incidents such as the recent “attack” on Lisa, but he insists on going aboard to save her. But she’s already in labor, and can’t be moved. Having lost contact with Joshua and the other fifth column members aboard Anna’s ship, and fully aware that reporter Chad Decker is a direct link to Anna, Erica devises a plan to pass a message to Joshua, and even if Anna intercepts it, she won’t decipher its full meaning. Hobbes uses himself as the bait to lure Marcus, Anna’s chief enforcer and head of security, to Earth. With Marcus out of the way, Erica can move more freely, but she hasn’t anticipated the ever-shifting loyalties of Lisa, or the unpredictability of Decker, and Ryan’s whereabouts are unknown. Erica manages to deal a devastating blow to the Visitors, but the momentary victory is a costly one.

written by Scott Rosenbaum & Gregg Hurwitz
directed by Robert Duncan McNeill
music by Marco Beltrami

Guest Cast: Charles Mesure (Kyle Hobbes), Christopher Shyer (Marcus), Mark Hildreth (Joshua), Lexa Doig (Dr. Pearlman), Scott Hylands (Father Travis)

Notes: Jack’s message to his parishioners – “let V stand for victory” – is a deliberate echo of one of the closing lines of the original V miniseries broadcast in 1984. The birth of the first human-Visitor hybrid harkens back to V: The Final Battle, but is presented very differently here. Another callback to V: The Final Battle is turned on its ear here: in that miniseries, the red dust was an anti-Visitor chemical which the resistance – not the aliens – deployed into the air and into Earth’s water supply by hot air balloon (since powered aircraft would have been detected and shot down). Director Robert Duncan McNeill is no stranger to alien intrigue, having starred as Tom Paris for seven seasons on Star Trek: Voyager prior to becoming an in-demand director.

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K-9 Season 1

The Eclipse Of The Korven

K-9The dimensional gateway in Gryffen’s lab activates of its own accord, but its energy is twisted, forming anembryonic black hole and a white hole in mid-air. K-9 predicts that Earth will be destroyed when the two converge – something that should take only 20 minutes. K-9 races to find out what Thorne is doing, certain that Thorne’s double-cross to gain possession of his regeneration unit is part of what is happening. He finds that Thorne also has another dimensional gateway similar to the one that Gryffen has pieced together, but much larger, and intended for a more sinister purpose: Thorne will use it to give his alien masters the means to invade Earth. He’s even anticipated every countermeasure Gryffen will use to close all of the dimensional portals, and has planned accordingly. K-9 will have to make an unthinkable sacrifice to save the world, and this time without his regeneration unit.

written by Shayne Armstrong & S.P. Krause
directed by David Napier
music by Christopher Elves

Guest Cast: Robyn Moore (June Turner), Connor Van Vuuren (Drake), Matthew Reimer (Korven Leader), Josh Norbido (CCPC), Jason McNamara (CCPC), Eugen Bekafigo (CCPC), Michael Donnet (CCPC), Tyler Rostedt (CCPC), Jarod Grodecki (CCPC)

Notes: Several elements planted through the entire season have been leading up to this episode: the missing element of the Korven-built gateway (Angel Of The North), Thorne’s involvement in the Department prison that held the Meron (Liberation), the virus that unleashed the CCPCs from human control (The Last Precinct), K-9’s regeneration unit (Regeneration / Hound Of The Korven), and Gryffen’s gradual fight against his agoraphobia (almost the entire season). For the first time, K-9 appears with the plaid collar similar to the one he wore in his original form in the Doctor’s company – perhaps a coincidence, or perhaps evidence that he has begun to recover some of his memories. The second and third Greek letters of Gryffen’s verbal deactivation code are sigma theta: whether coincidentally or not, a reversal of the Doctor’s Gallifreyan nickname, Theta Sigma (The Armageddon Factor).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 1 Walking Dead, The

TS-19

The Walking DeadThe group is allowed into the security of the Centers of Disease Control by Dr. Edwin Jenner, who has been working alone for several weeks. He provides them with food, a place to rest, an opportunity to wash clothes, and also takes blood samples from each. Jenner displays an MRI of Test Subject 19 who was bitten, died, and reanimated without any brain function.

He also reveals that the facility is about to run out of power and automated systems will destroy the site with everyone locked inside.

The Walking Deadteleplay by Adam Fierro and Frank Darabont
based on the graphic novel series by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore
and Charlie Adlard
directed by Guy Ferland
music by Bear McCreary

Cast: Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes), Jon Bernthal (Shane Walsh), Sarah Wayne Callies (Lori Grimes), Laurie Holden (Andrea), Steven Yeun (Glenn), Emma Bell (Amy), Chandler Riggs (Carl Grimes), Jeffrey DeMunn (Dale), Norman Reedus (Daryl), Noah Emmerich (Dr. Edwin Jenner), Jeryl Prescott Sales (Jacqui), IronE Singleton (T-Dog), Melissa McBride (Carol), Madison Lintz (Sophia)

LogBook entry by Robert Parson

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Doctor Who New Series Season 06

The Wedding Of River Song

Doctor WhoRather than marching quietly to his date with death, the Doctor goes on a series of missions to find out why the Silence wants him dead. Every piece of information simply leads to another question, until finally he arrives in Utah with Rory, Amy and River – and then his death fails to happen, thwarted by river. But history records the Doctor’s death at that moment, and when it fails to happen, history unravels, overlapping alternate histories with history as the Doctor and his friends know it. Amy, River and Rory now command a fighting force with orders to defend the Doctor from the Silence, and the mysterious Madame Kovarian has been captured – or has she really been pulling the strings all along? The Doctor’s fate is inescapable – but this time, that’s just how he wants it.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Steven Moffat
directed by Jeremy Webb
music by Murray Gold

Cast: Matt Smith (The Doctor), Karen Gillan (Amy Pond), Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams), Alex Kingston (River Song), Frances Barber (Madame Kovarian), Simon Fisher-Becker (Dorium Maldovar), Ian McNeice (Emperor Winston Churchill), Richard Hope (Dr. Malokeh), Marnix van den Broeke (The Silent), Nicholas Briggs (voice of the Dalek), Simon Callow (Charles Dickens), Sian Williams (herself), Bill Turnbull (himself), Meredith Viera (Newsreader), Niall Grieg Fulton (Gideon Vandaleur), Sean Buckley (Barman), Rondo Haxton (Gantok), Emma Campbell-Jones (Dr. Kent), Katharine Burford (Nurse), Richard Dillane (Carter), William Morgan Sheppard (Canton Delaware)

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Black Mirror Season 1

The Entire History Of You

Black MirrorGrain is a neural implant that records everything a person sees, even details they don’t notice at first, and stores it for later recall. During a replay, called a “redo”, different details can be enhanced and brought into focus, obsessed over, even litigated. A scan of recent memories has become the new background check: airport security, insurance, and job offers are all contingent upon memory scans with no unusual incidents – and no major deletions from the record hinting at a cover-up of such incidents. Liam, unsettled by news that the law firm for which he works will begin using recorded Grain memories to allow people to sue their parents for negligence during childhood, is in no mood for a party with old friends, but he still shows up, annoyed that his wife Fiona is being very attentive toward a male guest Liam regards as a blowhard. Upon learning that his wife had more than a mere passing acquaintance with the man in her single life, Liam is fixated on proving that they’re still having an affair. But the memory of what he does to resolve the situation may yet haunt him.

Get the DVDswritten by Jesse Alexander
directed by Brian Welsh
music by Stuart Earl

Black MirrorCast: Toby Kebbell (Liam), Jodie Whittaker (Fiona), Tom Cullen (Jonas), Amy Beth Hayes (Lucy), Rebekah Staton (Colleen), Rhashan Stone (Jeff), Phoebe Fox (Hallam), Jimi Mistry (Paul), Daniel Lapaine (Max), Karl Collins (Robbie), Elizabeth Chan (Leah), Mona Goodwin (Gina), Kemal Sylvester (Airport Security)

Note: Jodie Whittaker would go on to become Doctor Who‘s thirteenth face, making her debut in the closing moments of Twice Upon A Time (2017).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Doctor Who New Series Season 07

The Name Of The Doctor

Doctor WhoThen: The Doctor, in his first incarnation, prepares to steal a TARDIS and escape Gallifrey with his grandddaughter, Susan. In the TARDIS repair docks of Gallifrey, he is greeted not by security, but by a young woman whose face and name he will not know until his eleventh incarnation. She advises him to steal a different TARDIS than the one he was planning to take.

Now: The Doctor’s friends hold a cross between a teleconference and a seance, discussing an item of immediate concern: a man who claims to know the Doctor’s true name, his greatest secret. But the gathering itself is a trap: one by one, Jenny, Strax, and Madame Vastra are abducted and taken to Trenzalore, a planet where the Doctor has been predicted to fall. Clara relays this to the Doctor, and after a moment of hesitation, he leads the charge to free his allies. On Trenzalore, he is greeted by the unlikely sight of a giant TARDIS – his TARDIS, abandoned since his future death, its exterior dimensions catching up with its interior dimensions. As soon as the Doctor and Clara enter this future iteration of the TARDIS, it’s quite obvious that it’s a trap. At the heart of the TARDIS, the former console room, the Great Intelligence lurks with a small army of whisper men. The Intelligence wants to undo the Doctor’s history once and for all, by stepping into the Time Lord’s already-paradoxical time stream and thwarting every victory in the Doctor’s history. Against the Doctor’s wishes and his express warning about the danger involved, Clara leaps into the Doctor’s time stream in her own bid to defeat the Great Intelligence at every turn. In doing this, she is splintered into many incarnations of her own, meeting all of the Doctor’s faces and assisting all of them at some point in their adventures: this is why the Doctor has met more than one Clara, and why she has always seemed to go out of her way – even sacrificing her life – to save him. The Doctor jumps into his own time stream to retrieve her once the damage to his history is reversed, finding her alone with someone she doesn’t recognize as one of the Doctor’s many faces.

But the Doctor recognizes this face. It is the face which does not call itself the Doctor. It is the face of the man who fought the final battle of the Last Great Time War.

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

Cast: Matt Smith (The Doctor), Jenna-Louise Coleman (Clara), Alex Kingston (River Song), Richard E. Grant (Dr. Simeon), Neve McIntosh (Vastra), Catrin Stewart (Jenny), Dan Starkey (Strax), Eve de Leon Allen (Angie), Kassius Carey Johnson (Artie), Nasi Voutsas (Andro), David Avery (Fabian), Michael Jenn (Clarence), Rab Affleck (Archie), Samuel Irvine (Messenger Boy), Sophie Downham (young Clara), Paul Kasey (Whisper Man), John Hurt (The Doctor), William Hartnell (The Doctor)

Notes: Via colorized B&W footage from the original series Doctor Who(and stand-ins), William Hartnell has a speaking part in an episode of Doctor Who for the first time since the prologue of 1983’s The Five Doctors. The Five Doctors is also the source of film clips of Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee. Tom Baker appears in a clip from 1977’s The Invasion Of Time, while Peter Davison appears in footage from 1983’s Arc Of Infinity. A brief clip of Sylvester McCoy from Dragonfire (1987) is also seen; Colin Baker, Paul McGann and Christopher Eccleston are represented by stand-ins wearing their costumes rather than by film or video clips.

Doctor WhoThe Great Intelligence mentions some of the Doctor’s “other names”, including “the Oncoming Storm” (the Daleks’ name for the Doctor, first revealed in the novelization of 1988’s Remembrance Of The Daleks in its original Dalek translation, Ka Faraq Gatri) and the Valeyard from The Trial Of A Time Lord, an enigmatic “future aspect” of the Doctor which was, in his only appearance in 1986, said to fall somewhere “between the Doctor’s 12th and final regeneration”.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Rebels Season 1 Star Wars

Fire Across The Galaxy

Star Wars: RebelsTarkin is transporting Kanan to the planet Mustafar in a fleet of Star Destroyers, with the Inquisitor continuing to torture the Jedi along the way. With a stolen Imperial transport (and a TIE Fighter that Zeb and Ezra didn’t crash after all), the crew of the Ghost sets out on their riskiest mission yet, one which hinges entirely on Ezra’s ability to sense Kanan with the Force. The Rebels fight their way aboard Tarkin’s Star Destroyer, but Ezra must set out alone to find Ezra – and fight the Inquisitor alongside his fellow Jedi. Against two Jedi, even with limited training, the Inquisitor is outmatched, but promises that something even more powerful will follow in his footsteps. An entire Rebel fleet blasts out of hyperspace to rescue Kanan and his crew from Mustafar, and once back aboard the Ghost, he and the others meet Fulcrum in person: a Jedi survivor of the Clone Wars named Ahsoka Tano. But unknown to Ahsoka, the man she once knew as her Jedi mentor has been summoned to quash the rising rebellion on Lothal…

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Simon Kinberg
directed by Dave Filoni
music by Kevin Kiner
based on original themes and music by John Williams

RebelsCast: Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Kanan Jarrus), Vanessa Marshall (Hera), Tiya Sircar (Sabine), Steven Blum (Zeb / Stormtrooper #1 / Stormtrooper #3 / Imperial Crewman)), David Oyelowo (Agent Kallus), Phil LaMarr (Bail Organa / Bridge Official / Official), Dee Bradley Baker (Ephraim Bridger), Ashley Eckstein (Fulcrum / Ahsoka Tano), Stephen Stanton (Grand Moff Tarkin / Stormtrooper #2), Kath Soucie (Mira Bridger), Peter MacNicol (Tseebo), Jason Isaacs (The Inquisitor)

RebelsNotes: Where previous episodes made vague references to the Clone Wars, this story reveals that Rebels is part of the same timeline as the much-loved (but recently concluded) Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series. (The then-recent acquisition of Lucasfilm and the Star Wars properties by Disney had left some doubt about whether the pre-Disney Clone Wars series was still “official”.) Ashley Eckstein returns to the role of Ahsoka, who would become a regular fixture of Rebels in its second season.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Other Space

Finale

Other SpaceThe alien with which the crew has just made contact isn’t bringing alien technology to usher in a new era of cooperation. The tear in the fabric of space and time that looms ahead won’t bring the Cruiser and its crew home to Earth. Natasha can’t have a physical body, so she can’t interact with Kent. Stewart can’t stand to let an opportunity to learn about an alien species go by, and resigns as the Cruiser’s captain, learning Karen in command. And that giant alien spaceship coming through the rift, hundreds of times bigger than the alien spaceship the crew has already seen? That just can’t be good.

Watch this at the official sitewritten by Owen Ellickson
directed by Matt Sohn
music by Orr Rebhun & Erica Weis

Other SpaceCast: Trace Beaulieu (A.R.T.), Neil Casey (Kent Woolworth), Eugene Cordero (Michael Newman), Joel Hodgson (Zalian Fletcher), Conor Leslie (Natasha), Bess Rous (Karen Lipinski), Karan Soni (Stewart Lipinski), Milana Vayntrub (Tina Shukshin), Sarah Baker (Alien), Sherry O’Connor (A.R.T. Puppeteer #2)

Notes: Intended to be a cliffhanger leading into a second season, Finale instead marked the end of Other Space’s run on the short-lived Yahoo! Screen service, a video-on-demand platform with original programming intended to compete with the likes of Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. Paul Feig has hinted that there are still possibilities for a second season, though no outlets – either broadcast or streaming – have shown any open interest in picking up Other Space.

LogBook entry by Earl Green