Tag: Season Premiere

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Lost Season 3

A Tale of Two Cities

  • By Dave
  • October 4, 2006

LostFlashback: As Jack’s divorce nears completion, he obsesses over the identity of Sarah’s new lover. He attempts to track her cell phone usage, and discovers that she had at some point called his father. He follows his father to an AA meeting and accuses him of sleeping with his wife. When he slugs his father, he is arrested. Sarah bails him out, calls him a cab, and emphatically says good-bye.

The Island: A book club meets in what appears to be a normal suburban home. The host, Juliet, defends her choice of book, even while acknowledging that someone named Ben wouldn’t be much of a fan. The meeting is interrupted by what appears to be an earthquake. Everyone runs outside to see a plane break in half and descend. This is the island, and these are the Others. Henry Gale orders Goodwin and Ethan to infiltrate the survivors.

In the present, Jack is in a cell. Juliet tries to get him to take food, but he resists. Sawyer is in a cage that resembles an animal behavior experiment. Kate is given a shower and a dress, and brought to Henry. He warns her that the next two weeks are going to be unpleasant. Jack and Sawyer each make escape attempts, but even though Jack briefly manages to take Juliet hostage, neither can stay free for long.

Season 3 Regular Cast: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Mr. Eko), Naveen Andrews (Sayid), Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond), Emilie de Ravin (Claire), Michael Emerson (Henry Gale), Matthew Fox (Jack), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Josh Holloway (Sawyer), Daniel Dae Kim (Jin), Yunjin Kim (Sun), Evangeline Lilly (Kate), Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet), Dominic Monaghan (Charlie), Terry O’Quinn (Locke)

Order the DVDsstory by Damon Lindelof
teleplay by J.J. Abrams & Damon Lindelof
directed by Jack Bender
music by Michael Giacchino

Guest Cast: John Terry (Christian Shephard), Julie Bowen (Sarah), M.C. Gainey (Mr. Friendly), William Mapother (Ethan), Brett Cullen (Goodwin), Blake Bashoff (Karl), Julie Adams (Amelia), Stephen Semel (Adam), Isabelle Cherwin (Little Girl), Alexandra Morgan (moderator), Sonya Seng (Receptionist), Sally Davis (Teacher), Julie Ow (Nurse)

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Battlestar Galactica (New Series) Season 3

The Occupation

Battlestar GalacticaOver four months after the Cylon occupation began on New Caprica and the Colonial fleet departed, the struggle between the Cylons and the resistance have turned into all-out war, with the insurgency hitting higher and higher profile targets. The resistance has paid a cost, however: Tigh has been taken prisoner, tortured and released only when his wife strikes a bargain with one of the human Cylons that she’s uniquely qualified to fulfill. There have been other setbacks: the growing ranks of the New Caprica Police have divided the humans and set them against each other, especially when those “peacekeepers” mask their identity. Starbuck has been taken prisoner by the Leoben Cylon, who traps her in a nightmarish domestic illusion that eventually grows to include a daughter grown from one of Starbuck’s own ovaries. Tyrol and Tigh await communication from the Galactica – but others are convinced that the fleet will never return. Indeed, Admiral Adama is biding his time to return (and awaiting communication from New Caprica), though he can’t seem to agree with his son, in command of the Pegasus, on how to rescue the rest of the human race.

Season 3 Regular Cast: Edward James Olmos (Commander Adama), Mary McDonnell (President Laura Roslin), Katie Sackhoff (Lt. Starbuck), Jamie Bamber (Captain Apollo), James Callis (Dr. Gaius Baltar), Tricia Helfer (Number Six), Grace Park (Lt. Boomer)

written by Ronald D. Moore
directed by Sergio Mimeca-Gezzan
music by Bear McCreary

Guest Cast: Michael Hogan (Colonel Tigh), Aaron Douglas (CPO Tyrol), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Nicki Clyne (Cally), Alessandro Juliani (Lt. Gaeta), Kandyse McClure (Dualla), Lucy Lawless (D’anna Biers), Michael Trucco (Anders), Richard Hatch (Tom Zarek), Rick Worthy (The Doctor), Callum Keith Rennie (Leoben Conoy), Kate Vernon (Ellen Tigh), Donnelly Rhodes (Doc Cottle), Matthew Bennett (Doral), Rekha Sharma (Tory Foster), Dean Stockwell (Brother Cavel), Erica Cerra (Maya), Luciana Carro (Kat), Christian Tessier (Duck), Brad Drybrough (Hoshi), Leah Cairns (Racetrack), Madeline Parker (Kacey), Dominic Zamprogna (Jammer), Mylenne Dinh-Robic (Officer #1), Ryan McDoneil (Pilot #3), Colin Lawrence (Skulls), Byron Lawson (Pilot #4), Larissa Stadnchuk (Suicide Bomber)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 1 Torchwood

Everything Changes

TorchwoodA perfectly normal night on the beat for Cardiff policewoman Gwen Cooper is shattered by the arrival of a black vehicle at a murder scene. Even the police back off in deference, as four people emerge and use a strange metallic gauntlet to momentarily bring the murder victim back to life. Gwen watches in horror as the man realizes he only has two minutes to tell these people what happened to him – but can’t, since he was stabbed from behind. She finds out who they are – a mysterious organization called Torchwood, led by an American man named Captain Jack Harkness. The next day, she spots Jack again at a hospital, moments before she sees a grotesque humanoid figure brutally murder a hospital porter. Again, Jack and his Torchwood team are at the ready, subduing and capturing the inhuman killer, and just as quickly vanishing under a well-planned cover story.

Only Gwen isn’t about to let it go – she trails Torchwood’s vehicle to the Millennium Centre at the heart of Cardiff, and then follows them on foot to the waterfall – where they abruptly disappear from sight. Refusing to drop the trail, Gwen pays Torchwood a visit under the guise of delivering a pizza, but once inside their headquarters, she realizes that this organization is dabbling in something stranger than ordinary police work…and that their base of operations is actually nestled away right beneath the waterfall, where no one would think to look for it. Captain Jack introduces himself and his team: his second-in-command, Suzie Costello, medical expert Owen Harper, computer expert Toshiko Sato, and Ianto Jones, who serves as the team’s driver and organizes most of their cover. As members of Torchwood, they round up alien technology (and alien threats) that fall to Earth – activity which is apparently alarmingly common in Wales, thanks to a transdimensional rift running through Cardiff. They even have the alien killer from the hospital in custody, which inspires Gwen to propose a liaison between Torchwood and the police, rather than Torchwood sweeping in and taking over crime scenes under total secrecy.

Instead, Jack slips her an amnesia-inducing drug so she’ll forget the entire visit. But the next day, Gwen learns that more murders have taken place in Cardiff, committed with the same savage bladed weapon that felled the victim she saw Torchwood revive, and she gradually remembers Jack’s secret group – and seeing the weapon in their base of operations. If the alien is in custody, then who is still doing the killing? And has Torchwood met its match in Gwen…or a future recruit?

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Russell T. Davies
directed by Brian Kelly
music by Murray Gold

Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Burn Gorman (Owen Harper), Naoko Mori (Toshiko Sato), Indira Varma (Suzie Costello), Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Guy Lewis (Young Cop), Tom Price (P.C. Andy), Jason May (Soco), Rhys Swinburn (Body), Olwen Medi (Yvonne), Dion Davies (Officer), Jāms Thomas (Hospital Porter), Paul Kasey (Weevil), Mark Heal (Security Guard), Gary Sheppeard (Pizza Lad), Gwilym Havard Davies (Man), Cathryn Davis (Woman)

LogBook entry by Earl Green
Notes are included below and contain major spoilers.

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8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Blood Of The Daleks, Part 1

Doctor Who: Blood Of The Daleks Part 1The Doctor finds himself unexpectedly saddled with a new companion, the aacerbic Lucie Miller, who’s not too happy to be with the Doctor, either. Unable to return her to her own time, the two mismatched companions find themselves on the planet Red Rocket Rising, where a natural catastrophe has pretty much destroyed the society. But hope seems to arrive in the form of friendly aliens called the Daleks, who ally themselves with Acting President Klint. The Doctor tries to stop the Daleks, but when they realize he is on Red Rocket Rising, they set a price for their cooperation: the Doctor.

Order this CDwritten by Steve Lyons
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by ERS

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Sheridan Smith (Lucie Miller), Katarina Olsson (Headhunter), Anita Dobson (Eileen Klint), Hayley Atwell (Asha), Kenneth Cranham (Tom Cardwell), Nicholas Briggs (Daleks)

Notes: Producer/Director Nicholas Briggs has also voiced the Daleks in previous Big Finish productions, as well as the current BBC series.

Timeline: after The Girl Who Never Was and before Blood Of The Daleks Part 2

LogBook entry & review by Philip R. Frey

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Primeval Season 1

Episode 1

PrimevalPaleontologist Dr. Nick Cutter finds his attention drawn to a recent sighting of a “monster” near the Forest of Dean. Initially setting out to debunk it as a hoax, Cutter and his assistant, Stephen Hart, stumble upon evidence that something roughly the size and weight of a dinosaur has been active in the forest. Recently laid-off zoo employee Abby Maitland, following up on a letter from a young boy who needs help with an unusual lizard, makes a house call and discovers that the lizard in question is a new species. Asking the creature’s owner to show her where it was found, Abby also wanders into the Forest of Dean, stumbling upon Cutter’s expedition just as an enormous creature moves past them. The discovery of a glowing portal, hanging in the air, throws Cutter’s entire conception of science into chaos: the portal leads to what appears to be prehistoric Earth, from which the creatures – both large and small – are originating. The British government soon gets involved, over Cutter’s objections; the scientist now thinks his missing wife (long presumed dead) may have wandered through one of the anomalies, and intends to explore the past and look for her. The government, in the person of Sir James Lester, is far more interested in sealing off what could be the biggest threat to public safety ever known.

Order the SeriesDownload this episodewritten by Adrian Hodges
directed by Cilla Ware
music by Dominik Scherrer

PrimevalCast: Juliet Aubrey (Helen Cutter), Douglas Henshall (Nick Cutter), James Murray (Stephen Hart), Andrew-Lee Potts (Connor Temple), Hannah Spearritt (Abby Maitland), John Voce (Tim Parker), Mike Goodenough (Dave Greene), Gail Kemp (Mary Trent), Jack Montgomery (Ben Trent), Lucy Brown (Claudia Brown), Mark Wakeling (Capt. Tom Ryan), Ben Miller (Sir James Lester), Jane Cameron (Teacher)

Notes: Devised by Adrian Hodge and Tim Haines, creators and producers of the popular Walking With Dinosaurs documentary series, Primeval not only offered a new venue for the realistic CGI dinosaurs that had become a hallmark of their work, but was also ITV’s most popular attempt to create a science fiction series to rival the BBC’s revival of Doctor Who. Ironically, it was BBC America that gave Primeval exposure in the US.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Doctor Who New Series Season 03

Smith And Jones

Doctor WhoMedical student Martha Jones can tell that this isn’t going to be an ordinary day, whether it’s the black-suited figures at the hospital where she’s studying, or the rainstorm that surrounds the hospital and nothing else in London, or the odd patient with two heartbeats, or the fact that her hospital appears to be transported shortly afterward to the surface of the moon. As towering, skyscraper-like spacecraft land near the hospital and platoons of armed aliens enter, at least two other aliens are making their presence known within the hospital: one is a refugee on the run, and the other is a Time Lord known as the Doctor. When the Doctor all but assumes command of the situation, Martha has any number of questions about who – or what – he is. But if any of the other life forms get hold of the Doctor, Martha may never get her questions answered.

Season 3 Regular Cast: David Tennant (The Doctor), Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones)

Download this episodewritten by Russell T. Davies
directed by Charles Palmer
music by Murray Gold

Guest Cast: Anne Reid (Florence Finnegan), Roy Mardsen (Mr. Stoker), Adjoa Andoh (Francine Jones), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Tish Jones), Reggie Yates (Leo Jones), Trevor Laird (Clive Jones), Kimmi Richards (Annalise), Ben Righton (Morganstern), Vineeta Rishi (Julia Swales), Paul Kasey (Judoon Captain), Nicholas Briggs (Judoon voices)

Notes: Guest star Trevor Laird, making his first appearance as Martha’s dad, has crossed paths with the Doctor before, in the role of Frax in parts 5-8 of The Trial Of A Time Lord in 1986.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Eureka Season 2

Phoenix Rising

  • By Dave
  • July 10, 2007

Eureka A month after the accident that killed Kim, Henry is still reliving it in holographic form. Carter reaches out, suggesting that the two of them help each other deal with their situation. But Henry keeps insisting that events will keep diverging further and further from the timelines they remember. Case in point: at a festival celebrating a solar eclipse, Kevin’s occupational therapist bursts into flames. Two Global Dynamics researchers suffer the same fate, and Carter tries to piece together the link between them while also dealing with the conflict between his memories and this new timeline. Another major shift occurs when Allison – not Henry – is placed in charge of Global Dynamics after Stark is removed. Carter realizes that all three victims were near the lab with the artifact when Kim died, which makes him wonder if Henry is responsible – and if Stark is next.

Season 2 Regular Cast: Colin Ferguson (Sheriff Jack Carter), Salli Richardson (Allison Blake), Joe Morton (Henry Deacon), Jordan Hinson (Zoe Carter), Ed Quinn (Nathan Stark), Erica Serra (Jo Lupo), Neil Grayston (Douglas Fargo)

Order the DVDswritten by Jaime Paglia
directed by Michael Rohl
music by Bear McCreary
main title theme by Mark Mothersbaugh

Guest Cast: Debrah Farentino (Beverly Barlowe), Matt Frewer (Taggart), Tamlyn Tomita (Kim), Christopher Gauthier (Vincent), Meshach Peters (Kevin), Garwin Sanford (Congressman Faraday)

Notes: Congressman Faraday appeared in season 1’s Alienated. Henry traveled back in time to prevent Kim’s death, and Carter traveled back to stop him, in the season 1 finale Once in a Lifetime.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Hyperdrive Season 2

Green Javelins

HyperdriveCommander Henderson has big news for the crew of the Camden Lock – due to the destruction of another ship, they have secured a place in the Green Javelins, a stunt-flying squadron of starships showcasing Britain’s finest spaceship builders and crews. What Henderson doesn’t know is that his ship is only filling in for one display, but it’s a big one: an alien government is considering purchasing British-made starships, and even one slightly inept maneuver could end that deal. Worse still, Teal had a previous relationship with the commander of the Green Javelins’ flagship, and is both mortified and intrigued to find that he still harbors feelings for her as well, so much so that he wants her to transfer to his ship. Meanwhile, York creates an artificial replica of himself that bewilders all of his shipmates.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Kevin Cecil & Andy Riley
directed by John Henderson
music by Mark Thomas

HyperdriveCast: Nick Frost (Henderson), Kevin Eldon (York / False York), Miranda Hart (Teal), Dan Antopolski (Jeffers), Stephen Evans (Vine), Petra Massey (Sandstrom), Stephen Mangan (Mason), Paterson Joseph (Space Marshal), Marek Larwood (Amorf Spets), Toby Park (McCluskey), Robert Galas (Teenager), Maggie Service (Voices), Ewan Bailey (Voices)

HyperdriveNotes: The Camden Lock is an Andover-class ship. By the end of the episode, the Camden Lock is an Andover-class ship with lots and lots of heavy damage. We also find out that Andover-class ships with lots and lots of heavy damage can land, at least in low-gravity environments such as Earth’s moon. Guest star Stephen Mangan would later take on the title role of the BBC’s TV adaptation of Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently books.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Sarah Jane Adventures Season 1

Revenge Of The Slitheen – Part 1

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

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

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

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

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

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 4 Stargate Stargate Atlantis

Adrift

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

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

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

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

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

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Big Finish Spinoffs Dalek Empire Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Dalek Empire IV: The Fearless – Part 1

Dalek Empire IV: The FearlessOn the backwater planet of Talis Minor, Salus Kade has a decent life; he helps to bring home the food that feeds his people, he has a wife and daughter – and he wants absolutely nothing to do with the war raging between the Earth Alliance and the Dalek Empire. When he finds Earth soldiers holding a recruitment drive in the middle of his home town, he’s not pleased, and he’s not afraid of them until he discovers that the “recruiting” is just for show and it’s actually a forced conscription drive. Even as he rallies his own people around him by denouncing the Earth Alliance’s tyranny, the Daleks themselves arrive – and a catastrophic attack helps to change Kade’s mind. He enlists, along with many other men from his community, and ends up leading a battallion of Earth and allied soldiers in the Alliance’s newest gear: a sealed, self-contained armored spacesuit which is practically its own interstellar vehicle and weapons platform built around one man. Designed specifically to combat the Daleks, these suits are worn only by the Earth Alliance’s elite troopers, code named the Fearless. But Kade’s latest mission into the teeth of the Dalek war machine is enough to strike at least a little fear into his heart…

Order this CDwritten by Nicholas Briggs
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Nicholas Briggs

Cast: Noel Clarke (Salus Kade), Maureen O’Brien (General Agnes Landen), Nicholas Briggs (The Daleks), Sarah Mowat (Susan Mendes), John Schwab (Lt. Carlisle), Oliver Mellor (Egan Fisk), David Yip (Kennedy), Ginita Jimenez (Lajitta), Colin Spaul (Colonel Baxter), Ian Brooker (General Croft / Shuttle Pilot), Sean Connolly (Computer / Pilot / Aide), Alex Mallinson (Gaz), Esther Ruth Elliott (Flight Control)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 2 Torchwood

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

TorchwoodSome time after Captain Jack’s mysterious disappearance, Torchwood has continued to track down aliens and their artifacts as they seep through the interdimensional rift running through Cardiff. Gwen has assumed command, but she’s left at a bit of a loose end when Jack suddenly returns, and a new mystery conveniently prevents him from explaining where he’s been. That mystery arrives in the form of Captain John Hart, who introduces himself as a former time agent – like Jack – though no one’s quite sure what that means. He’s on Earth to seek Torchwood’s help, but Jack has grave misgivings about his former fellow con man’s mission. But when he picks up on how little Jack’s team know about him, Captain John takes the opportunity to stir their vague mistrust of their leader.

Season 2 Regular Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Burn Gorman (Owen Harper), Naoko Mori (Toshiko Sato), Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones)

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

Guest Cast: Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), James Marsters (Captain John Hart), Menna Trussler (Old Woman), Paul Kasey (Blowfish), Crispin Layfield (Mugger), Nathan Ryan (Victim), Inika Leigh Wright (Hologram Woman), Sarah Whyte (Teenage Girl)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Dead London

Doctor Who: Dead LondonThe Doctor and Lucie travel to 21st century London so Lucie can conquer her most dangerous foe yet: her urge to go shopping. But when London changes around them, both of the time travelers are in danger. Lucie finds herself in London at the height of World War I, with zeppelin bombing runs an imminent danger, while the Doctor’s court appearance for a TARDIS parking violation becomes a more deadly affair when he winds up in an 18th century court. What’s even stranger than the time shifts is the fact that the residents of London are not only aware of them, but take them in their stride. With the Doctor sentenced to be hanged, time is running out to find out what’s happened to London, in the past and the present.

Order this CDwritten by Pat Mills
directed by Barnaby Edwards
music by Simon Robinson

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Sheridan Smith (Lucie Miller), Rupert Vansittart (Sepulchre), Clare Buckfield (Spring-Heeled Sophie), Richard Laing (Clerk), Katarina Olsson (Yellow Beryl)

Timeline: after Human Resources Part 2 and before Max Warp

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
Battlestar Galactica (New Series) Season 4

He That Believeth In Me

Battlestar GalacticaGalactica’s entire command crew is stunned into silence at the sound of Starbuck’s voice. Even though they’re still reeling from the realization that they are among the Cylons’ fabled final five, Tigh, Tyrol, Anders and Tory are shocked by the return of Starbuck. Starbuck helps Galactica in the fight against the Cylon base ships, but after a Cylon fighter scans Anders at close range, the fight is over and the Cylons inexplicably retreat. Aboard Galactica, Starbuck’s triumphant return is met with a very muted response. She claims that she’s only been gone for six hours, and can’t explain why two months have passed for the rest of the fleet. She also can’t explain, except in the vaguest of terms, how she got to Earth and then returned to the fleet. Roslin orders Starbuck locked up and kept under guard, certain that this isn’t the real Kara Thrace, but a Cylon trick. Below decks, in the aftermath of his trial, Baltar is whisked away to the safety of a commune of people who consider him to be their messiah, and he begins to falteringly pass on the Cylons’ monotheistic belief system to his new followers, urging them to turn their backs on the pantheon of gods worshipped by the Colonials. But even among friends (and at least a few fanatics), Baltar discovers that he isn’t completely safe. Starbuck tries to convince Adama that she does know the way to Earth, but can’t give him a concrete reason to trust her. She then sets out to convince Roslin instead – with a gun in her hand.

Season 4 Regular Cast: Edward James Olmos (Admiral Adama), Mary McDonnell (President Laura Roslin), Katie Sackhoff (Lt. Starbuck), Jamie Bamber (Captain Apollo), James Callis (Dr. Gaius Baltar), Tricia Helfer (Number Six), Grace Park (Lt. Boomer)

written by David Weddle & Bradley Thompson
directed by Michael Rymer
music by Bear McCreary

Guest Cast: Michael Hogan (Colonel Tigh), Aaron Douglas (CPO Tyrol), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Michael Trucco (Anders), Alessandro Juliani (Lt. Gaeta), Kandyse McClure (Dualla), Rekha Sharma (Tory Foster)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Doctor Who New Series Season 04

Partners In Crime

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

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

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

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

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green