Categories
Discovery Season 1 Star Trek

The Vulcan Hello

Star Trek: DiscoveryStardate 1207.2: An uncrewed communications relay at the edge of Federation space suddenly stops working, and the starship U.S.S. Shenzhou is sent to investigate. Captain Philippa Georgiou sends her first officer, Commander Michael Burnham, to investigate an object near a binary star that seems to be deliberately scattering the entire electromagnetic spectrum, including visible wavelengths. Burnham flies a thruster suit toward the unknown object, finding it to be an ancient vessel of some kind. When Burnham lands on the object, her presence triggers a sudden activation of the vessel, and an armed Klingon warrior appears behind her. When the Klingon attacks, Burnham attempts to escape, accidentally impaling the Klingon with his own weapon before slamming into part of the Klingon vessel and tumbling back toward the Shenzhou, unconscious.

Burnham awakens aboard the Shenzhou, rescued by suffering from acute effects of exposure to the radiation emanating from the binary star nearby. She leaves sick bay before her treatment is complete to warn Captain Georgiou of the Klingons’ presence. When Georgiou orders the Shenzhou‘s weapons brought to bear on the object just visited by Burnham, an enormous Klingon ship decloaks just ahead. As Georgiou consults with Starfleet, Burnham seeks the advice of her adoptive father, Ambassador Sarek of Vulcan. Georgiou is steadfast in her desire for a diplomatic solution, but Burnham advises her that the Klingons will only respect a show of strength: a battle worthy of their mettle. When she is unable to convince her Captain of this course of action, Burnham attempts a mutiny, but it’s too late: as the Shenzhou waits alone for reinforcements, an entire Klingon fleet warps into view.

The Klingons have been anticipating the humans’ spreading influence in the galaxy, and T’Kuvma, the leader of the Klingons aboard the ceremonial ship discovered by the Shenzhou, wants to unite all 24 of the Klingons’ disparate houses to attack the Federation before they themselves are attacked. T’Kuvma is annoyed when not all of the Klingons share his zeal…but the Federation ship before him has fallen so easily into the trap, he sees no reason to delay the war he sees as not only inevitable, but prophesied.

Order DVDsStream this episode via Amazonteleplay by Bryan Fuller and Akiva Goldsman
story by Bryan Fuller and Akiva Goldsman
directed by David Semel
music by Jeff Russo

Star Trek: DiscoveryCast: Sonequa Martin-Green (Commander Michael Burnham), Doug Jones (Lt. Commander Saru), Shazad Latif (Lt. Ash Tyler), Anthony Rapp (Lt. Paul Stamets), Mary Wiseman (Cadet Sylvia Tilly), Jason Isaacs (Captain Gabriel Lorca), Michelle Yeoh (Captain Philippa Georgiou), Mary Chieffo (L’Rell), James Frain (Sarek), Chris Obi (T’Kuvma), Maulik Pancholy (Dr. Nambue), Terry Serpico (Admiral Anderson), Sam Vartholomeos (Ensign Danby Connor), Arista Arhin (young Michael Burnham), Emily Coutts (Keyla Detmer), Justin Howell (Torchbearer / Rejac), Javid Iqbal (Voq), Ali Momen (Kamran Grant), Bonnie Morgan (Crepuscula), David Benjamin Tomlinson (Or’eq), Tasia Valenza (Computer Voice), Chris Violette (Britch Weeton), Romaine Waite (Troy Januzzi)

Star Trek: DiscoveryNotes: Stardate 1207.2 equates to May 11th, 2256 – ten years before the first season of the original Star Trek (and 2-3 years after the events depicted in The Cage and the Cage-derived flashback scenes from The Menagerie), and 95 years after These Are The Voyages…, the series finale of Star Trek: Enterprise. As that finale takes place 5 years after the remainder of the fourth season of Enterprise, this may mean that Captain Archer’s last contact with the Klingons (in Affliction and Divergence) was one of the last contacts with the Klingons “a hundred years ago”.

Tasia Valenza, the new Federation computer voice (assuming the role left vacant by the late Majel Barrett Roddenberry), is the only cast member with ties to prior Star Trek: she was a Vulcan would-be Starfleet cadet vying against Wesley Crusher and others for a coveted slot at the Academy in 1988’s Coming Of Age. She also appeared in the 1990s series Space: Above And Beyond.

Star Trek: DiscoveryThe Klingons’ ritual scream at the heavens – a warning that a dead warrior is ascending – was first established in Star Trek: The Next Generation (Heart Of Glory, 1988); the concept of a multitude of Klingon “houses” originated in another TNG episode (Sins Of The Father, 1990). Ironically, Burnham’s adoptive brother, Spock, took a similar headlong plunge into danger in a Starfleet thruster suit in 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The original Klingon Torchbearer’s weapon is identified by Burnham’s heads-up display as a bat’leth, though very different in design to the one wielded by Worf in many an episode of TNG; it’s possible that, much like the Torchbearer’s title, this bat’leth is more ornately ceremonial than functional (though that doesn’t prevent it from being deadly).

Star Trek: DiscoveryCredited, but not appearing in, this episode are series regulars Shazad Latif, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, and Jason Isaacs.

The Shenzhou is named for a real family of Chinese spacecraft that had only just started flying the last time there was a Star Trek series on the air.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Missions Season 1

Ulysse

Missions1967: The first Soyuz spacecraft, returning to Earth with cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov aboard, fails to deploy its parachute after re-entry – the last in a series of technical glitches that have plagued the mission. But history records that this is the fault that will doom Komarov to a fiery crash into the ground. The last thing he sees, however, is a blinding light streaming in through the capsule’s porthole…

2027: Just ten days away from launch, a multi-national mission to Mars is struck by tragedy, as the crew’s on-board psychologist dies in a helicopter crash en route to the launch site. Behavioral psychologist Jeanne Renoir is tapped to assume that position on the Argos mission. Ten months into the mission, as Argos approaches Mars, she has her doubts that the crew is capable of functioning as a team under the pressures of life on another planet. Matters aren’t helped by the fact that William Meyer, the financier of the mission, installed himself as a crewmember from the outset, and he’s not prepared to listen to Renoir’s recommendations. (The fact that Renoir herself has been having an affair with mission commander Martin Najac since leaving Earth – despite his wife’s presence as a fellow crewmember – may make her psychological assessments less than reliable.) Only 24 hours from landing, Meyer and Najac reveal to the rest of their crew that a nuclear-powered private American mission, Zillion-1, put a man on Mars ahead of Argos after only three weeks’ travel time from Earth – and that it sent only one message after landing, warning them that Mars is too dangerous to visit. When landing shuttle Ulysse fails to detach from Argos, Martin performs a spacewalk to manually release the latches, but the resulting movement when he does release them sends him tumbling into space, beyond his crew’s reach or their fuel capacity.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Julien Lacombe
directed by Julien Lacombe
music by Etienne Forget

MissionsCast: Hélène Viviès (Jeanne Renoir), Clément Aubert (Simon Gramat), Mathias Mlekuz (William Meyer), Jean-Toussaint Bernard (Yann Bellocq), Giorgia Sinicorni (Alessandra Najac), Côme Levin (Basile), Adrianna Gradziel (Eva Müller), Christophe Vandevelde (Martin Najac), Arben Bajraktaraj (Vladimir Komarov), Tiphaine Daviot (voice of Irene), Yasmin Bau (Jeanne’s assistant), David Clark (Astronaut 1), Menage Fleury (Sports Reporter), Nicolas Traino (News Reporter), Franka Koareau (voice of Russian Soyuz Operator)

MissionsNotes: Vladimir Komarov (1927-1967) was a real cosmonaut who not only flew solo aboard the real Soyuz 1 mission in 1967, but had previously commanded Voshkod 1, the first spaceflight with more than one crew member aboard, in 1964. In real life, the Soyuz 1 mission was rushed to launch in order to meet an artificial deadline, both to show up the American space program (which had suffered its own tragedy with the death of the Apollo 1 crew on the launch pad in January 1967) and to ensure the presence of a Soviet spaceflight in orbit during the celebrations of the anniversary of Vladimir Lenin’s birthday (April 22nd), despite many engineering problems persisting that should have kept the vehicle grounded until it was safer to fly. As depicted in this otherwise fictitious telling of events, Komarov did have significant problems orienting the MissionsSoyuz, exacerbated by the fact that its left solar “wing” never unfurled to provide the vehicle with sufficient power. (The opening scene of this episode shows the wing fully deployed, which never happened, an oddity since many of the major details of Komarov’s mission as used in this story are factually correct.)

Produced by and for French streaming service OCS (with “Martian” location filming in Morocco), Missions’ dialogue is entirely in French, with the exception of subtitled scenes involving Komarov (speaking Russian) and the distress call from the doomed American mission (speaking English). Series creators Henri Debeurme, Julien Lacombe and Ami Cohen were reportedly inspired by the ambiguous mystery storytelling and backstory-via-flashback structure of the American series Lost. The end credits show everyone who appears in the entire season; an attempt has been made with this guide to credit performers for their appearances in specific episodes. The Amazon streaming link included above is for the English-subtitled edition of the series.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Gifted, The Season 1

eXposed

The GiftedPolice squad cars pursue a young woman in Atlanta, only to lose track of her when she opens a glowing portal out of nowhere with her bare hands, leaping through it. She emerges through another portal in an abandoned building, and finds herself surrounded by others – others like herself. Police converge on the building, and after a fierce fight between police revolvers and powers almost beyond human comprehension, two of the suspects are taken into custody, while two of the cops are killed.

Teenager Lauren Strucker’s socially awkward younger brother Andy sneaks out of the house to accompany her to a school dance. When he’s picked on and tortured by the school bullies, Andy goes into a rage, unleashing an enormous amount of energy that almost brings the walls of the school down. Lauren, aware of his powers, drags Andy out of the school and races home. The incident has already made the news, attracting federal attention as America debates taking tougher measures to detect and contain mutants among the population. As Lauren explains to her mother that she and Andy have latent mutant powers, there’s a knock at the door. But it’s not the police, or indeed anyone with even the slightest respect for civil rights. Sentinel Services wages a secret war against the mutant populace. Andy again unleashes his powers to help his family escape. The Struckers are on the run.

This poses a serious dilemma for Reed Strucker, an attorney who has prosecuted cases involving mutants in the past…but he’s also in a very good position to know about the underground network that the mutants have built to protect themselves. Now he has to depend on the people he once helped to hunt down to save his children and his wife…and even if he can convince the mutants to help, it may not be enough to save Reed Strucker himself.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Matt Nix
based on the X-Men comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

directed by Bryan Singer
music by John Ottman

The GiftedCast: Stephen Moyer (Reed Strucker), Amy Acker (Caitlin Strucker), Sean Teale (Marcos Diaz / Eclipse), Natalie Alyn Lind (Lauren Strucker), Percy Hynes White (Andy Strucker), Coby Bell (Jace Turner), Jamie Ching (Clarice Fong / Blink), Blair Redford (John Proudstar / Thunderbird), Emma Dumont (Lorna Dane / Polaris), Toks Olagundove (Carla Jackson), Dale Godboldo (Ted Baird), Steffan Argus (Jack), Pierce Foster Bailey (Trevor), Giovanni DeVito (Dax), Billy Blair (Truck Driver), Dinarte de Freitas (Pedro), Dalton Gray (Jake), Josh Henry (Ben), Roscoe Johnson (Guard), Cynthia Jackson (Waitress), Jason Jamal Ligon (Side-Eye), Hayley Lovitt (Sage), Joe Nemmers (Agent Weeks), Jeff Daniel Phillips (Fade), Scott Parks (Passenger Cop), Jermaine Rivers (Shatter), Matthew Tompkins (Cal Jameson), Stan Lee (Stan Lee)

The GiftedObligatory Stan Lee cameo: Lee walks out of the bar, pausing in the doorway as he passes Marcos, who is en route to meet with Reed Strucker. Hi, Stan!

Notes: Though the X-Men are mentioned briefly, The Gifted presents a more small-scale look at the plight of mutants in America. The series is not based upon a particular comic, but was created by Matt Nix (creator and showrunner of the hit spy series Burn Notice) as a story taking place in the X-Men’s “universe”. Since the show is produced by 20th Century Fox (as opposed to Disney/ABC), The Gifted may share universes with that studio’s X-Men films, but is not part of the continuity of the bulk of Marvel’s Disney-produced film and TV output.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Red Dwarf Season 12

Cured

Red DwarfCat’s critical misunderstanding of the game of poker is interrupted by the discovery of a centuries-old American base on a nearby moon, one which Kryten believes was the last outpost of a project to genetically breed the roots of evil out of human beings. Cryogenic tubes are labeled with the names of some of humanity’s worst offenders – Hitler, Vlad, Stalin, Messalina – brought back to life through genetic manipulation, as well as Professor Telford, presumably the scientist conducting the experiment. He claims these pillars of human evil are cured, and over dinner they do seem friendly enough, but aware of the Starbug crew’s suspicions. When those suspicions appear to be justified, how much evil will the Boys from the Dwarf have to employ to save their own skins?

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Doug Naylor
directed by Doug Naylor
music by Howard Goodall

Red DwarfCast: Chris Barrie (Rimmer), Craig Charles (Lister), Danny John-Jules (Cat), Robert Llewellyn (Kryten), Adrian Lukis (Professor Telford), Ryan Gage (Hitler), Chloe Hawkins (Messalina), Callum Coates (Stalin), Philippe Spall (Vlad the Impaler)

Notes: The Dwarfers are better qualified than most to know whether or not they’re dealing with the real Hitler. After all, Lister stepped through Timeslides Red Dwarf(1989) to rumble with the Fuhrer, and a waxwork droid of Hitler led his unlikely troops into a Meltdown (1990) against Rimmer’s forces.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Rebels Season 4 Star Wars

Heroes Of Mandalore – Part 1

Star Wars: RebelsKanan, Chopper and Ezra return with Sabine to Mandalore to fight the Imperial occupation of that planet, only to find that they’ve walked into a trap designed to deliver Sabine into the hands of the Saxon family. With the help of Mandalorians and Jedi alike, Sabine escapes the trap, only the discover that her father is being moved to another facility for public execution. Sabine and her ragtag group of followers, now including Mandalorians from House Kryze, intercept the convoy transporting her father. A fierce fight ensues, but he is rescued – just before a sound very familiar to Sabine heralds a new tragedy about to strike.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Henry Gilroy & Steven Melching
directed by Steward Lee
music by Kevin Kiner
additional music by David Russell, Sean Kiner, and Dean Kiner
based on original themes and music by John Williams

RebelsCast: Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Vanessa Marshall (Hera Syndulla), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Kanan Jarrus / Stormtrooper #2), Tiya Sircar (Sabine Wren), Steve Blum (Zeb / Stormtrooper #3 / Stormtrooper #4), Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Alrich Wren), Katee Sackhoff (Bo-Katan Kryze), Andrew Kishino (Captain Hark / Stormtrooper #1 / Imperial Transport Driver #1), Kevin McKidd (Fenn Rau), Dave Filoni (Imperial Mandalorian Commander), Ritesh Rajan (Imperial Transport Driver #2 / Tristan Wren), Matthew Wood (Stormtrooper #5), Tobias Menzies (Tiber Saxon), Sharmila Devar (Ursa Wren)

RebelsNotes: Genre royalty peppers the cast of the two-part season opener, includuing Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck from the reimagined 21st century version of Battlestar Galactica) and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, whose credits both in and out of the science fiction genre are almost too numerous to list here, including a regular role on the short-lived ’90s space opera Space Rangers, guest appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Alien Nation, Babylon 5, Stargate SG-1, and many others.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 2 Stranger Things

MADMAX

Stranger ThingsHanging out at the local arcade as in fall 1984 is a perfectly ordinary activity, unless you live in Hawkins, Indiana and your name is Will Byers and it’s been a year since the most terrifying experience of your life. One moment he feels like a storm is brewing outside the arcade, the next moment he – and the arcade – are in the Upside Down, and the storm clouds part to reveal an enormous spider-like creature. And then, just as suddenly, Will is back among his friends, who are more interested in who has beaten Dustin’s high scores and left only the name “MADMAX”. By coincidence, the boys have a new classmate named Maxine (though she prefers to go by Max); when they try to find out more about her, she leaves them a note to leave her alone…not that this discourages Justin or Lucas. Will’s mother takes him to Hawkins National Lab to speak to a doctor there about his recent experience; both Will and Joyce have to be reassured that the lab is under new management, and Dr. Owens is looking out for Will. Another vision of the Upside Down, this time longer and scarier, grips Will. Elsewhere, Police Chief Jim Hopper has a dinner guest with a liking for Eggos.

written by Matt Duffer & Ross Duffer
directed by Matt Duffer & Ross Duffer
music by Michael Stein & Kyle Dixon

Stranger ThingsCast: Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers), David Harbour (Jim Hopper), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), Noah Schanpp (Will Byers), Sadie Sink (Max), Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers), Joe Keery (Steve Harrington), Dacre Montgomery (Billy), Cara Buono (Karen Wheeler), Sean Astin (Bob Newby), Paul Reiser (Dr. Owens), Linnea Berthelsen (Roman), Joe Chrest (Ted Wheeler), Catherine Curtin (Claudia Henderson), Brett Gelman (Murray Bauman), Kai L. Greene (Funshine), Randy Havens (Mr. Clarke), James Landry Hebert (Axel), Anna Jacoby-Heron (Dottie), Gabrielle Maiden (Mick), Rob Morgan (Officer Powell), Chelsea Talmadge (Carol), Glennellen Anderson (Nicole), Cynthia Barrett (Mrs. Holland), Alan Boell (Adams), Gilbert Glenn Brown (Cop #4), Matty Cardarople (Keith), Madelyn Cline (Tina), Abigail Cowan (Vicki), Brian F. Durkin (Cop #1), Joe Davison (Nerdy Tech), Lauren Halperin (Dr. Owens’ Assistant), Christopher Johnson (Cop #2), Fenton Lawless (Merril), Charles Lawlor (Mr. Medvald), David A. MacDonald (Flamethrower Soldier), Aaron Munoz (Mr. Holland), Tinsley Price (Holly Wheeler), Susan Shalhoub Larkin (Florence), Tony Vaughn (Principal Coleman), Ricardo Miguel Young (TV Reporter)

Stranger ThingsNotes: Everything about the arcade feels spot-on, such as Dragon’s Lair taking the world by storm in 1984, but one minor detail had to be changed for the story to work: neither Centipede nor Dig Dug allowed more than three characters on their high score screens. Neither game would have had room for “MADMAX” or “DUSTIN” on their high score tables. Paul Reiser isn’t just the Mad About You guy or the My Two Dads guy; his role as Burke in 1986’s Aliens gives him some serious genre cred.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Black Mirror Season 4

U.S.S. Callister

Black MirrorStardate not given: The stalwart crew of the starship U.S.S. Callister patrols the galaxy, constantly running into the evil forces of the tyrannical Baldak, and constantly defeating them thanks to the heroic leadership and tactical brilliance of Captain Robert Daly. But failing to praise or please Daly reveals the terrifying truth that he’s even more of a tyrant than his arch-enemy…

Stardates aren’t real: Callister, Inc.’s flagship product, the massively multiplayer virtual reality space adventure game Infinity, is a massive hit. The company’s chief technology officer, socially stunted software guru Robert Daly, is running behind on a major update to the game, but is distracted from the impending crisis by the arrival of a new programmer, Nanette Cole. But when Callister’s CEO wastes no time showing him up, Daly quietly grabs a lid from one of her coffee cups, and scans it for DNA.

Stardate still not given: Nanette Cole awakens in an unfamiliar (and alarmingly revealing) uniform, aboard what appears to be a spaceship. She explores until she finds the bridge, full of people who appear to be her new co-workers at Callister, Inc. …only to be told that, like them, she is an image of the real Nanette Cole, extracted from a DNA sample, who will now be left with no option but to play out Robert Daly’s twisted sci-fi fan fantasies. She immediately comes to the conclusion that the U.S.S. Callister needs a change of command.

written by William Bridges & Charlie Brooker
directed by Toby Haynes
music by Daniel Pemberton

Black MirrorCast: Jesse Plemons (Robert Daly), Cristin Milioti (Nanette Cole), Jimmi Simpson (Walton), Michaela Coel (Shania), Billy Magnussen (Baldak), Milanki Brooks (Elen Tulaska), Osy Ikhile (Nate Packer), Paul G. Raymond (Kabir Dudani), Hammed Animashaun (Pizza Guy), Tom Mulheron (Tommy), Aaron Paul (Gamer691)

Notes: Toby Haynes has numerous genre directing credits, including a series of very well-regarded episodes of Matt Smith‘s era of Doctor Who Jimmi Black MirrorSimpson is a regular on HBO‘s Westworld, while multiple Emmy winner Aaron Paul – heard in a voice-only role here – was one of the stars of AMC’s popular series Breaking Bad. This episode obviously spoofed the original Star Trek (and, toward the end, the J.J. Abrams retooling of classic Trek for the big screen), as well as a certain somewhat suspect subset of its fandom.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Lost In Space (Netflix) Season 1

Impact

Lost In SpaceThe Resolute, a massive space colony ship outbound from Earth, is attacked by robots of unknown origin; the colonists are ordered to evacuate in their landfall craft. But unknown to any of them, a rift in spacetime has opened, sucking in the evacuating colonists’ ships, and the wreckage of the Resolute, and depositing them in another galaxy far beyond the reach of Earth. The Robinson family’s landfall craft, the Jupiter 2, homes in on a barely-habitable planet and comes down for a hard landing on a frozen lake. Moments after evacuating the ship containing all of their survival gear, the Robinsons are helpless to do anything but watch as their ship’s heat melts the ice, allowing it to sink into the water. Combat veteran John Robinson seems to be unable to get his wife, Maureen, or any of their three children to stick to anything resembling military discipline. Maureen’s leg, broken in the crash, is a cause for immediate concern. Judy Robinson, the eldest daughter, dives into the water to retrieve batteries to power their makeshift camp, only to be trapped beneath the rapidly refreezing ice in a spacesuit that will eventually run out of oxygen. Penny Robinson, the middle child, is left to look after her mother while John and his son Will go to search for magnesium that could be ignited to burn through the thick ice. Will falls into an ice tunnel, emerging in a heavily wooded area, where he discovers that he is not the only crash survivor: one of the robots has survived, but in the crash has forgotten its hostile intent. Will persuades it to reunite him with his family and to help them survive the various dangers. Neither Will nor any of his family saw the attacking robots, and do not realize that one of their attackers is now among them. They only know that they wouldn’t have survived their first night on this planet without it.

written by Matt Sazama & Burk Sharpless
based on the teleplay Lost In Space: No Place To Hide by Irwin Allen and Shimon Wincelberg
directed by Neil Marshall
music by Christopher Lennertz
original Lost In Space theme by John Williams

Lost In SpaceCast: Molly Parker (Maureen Robinson), Toby Stephens (John Robinson), Maxwell Jenkins (Will Robinson), Taylor Russell (Judy Robinson), Mina Sundwall (Penny Robinson), Ignacio Serricchio (Don West), Parker Posey (Dr. Smith), Brian Steele (Robot), Bill Mumy (Dr. Zachary Smith), AnnaMaria Demara (Tam Roughneck), Natasha Quirke (Salesperson), Vanessa Eichholz (News Anchor)

Notes: Arriving 20 years after the previous one-off big screen remake and over 50 years after the original Lost In Spaceseries, the premiere episode of the reimagined Lost In Space still finds a moment to look back over its shoulder, casting Bill Mumy (the original Will Robinson) in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo as the “real” Dr. Smith (whose identity is stolen by Parker Posey’s character, whose real identity would be revealed later in the season).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Resistance Season 1 Star Wars

The Recruit

Star Wars: ResistanceKaz Xiono, a young pilot for the New Republic Navy (and the son of a senator), is trying to return valuable intelligence to the Republic when his X-Wing squadron is ambushed by a crimson TIE fighter. Kaz ensures that the rest of his group escape, but finds himself outgunned when trying to take on the First Order fighter alone until another X-Wing joins the battle. That fighter, piloted by Poe Dameron, not only saves Kaz’s life but escorts him aboard a cruiser belonging to the Resistance. Considered extremists by many members of the New Republic, the Resistance is recruiting for a fight against the First Order, a remnant of the Galactic Empire that many (including Kaz’s father) refuse to believe is a credible threat. Poe thinks Kaz has what it takes to join the Resistance, and brings him to the ocean planet Castilon to install him as a Resistance spy. Poe tells Kaz to lie low and blend in…and is horrified when, within a day, Kaz’s boast of being the best pilot in the galaxy is taken out of context. Now Kaz is expected to prove his claim in a life-or-death race…and neither Poe nor his local allies at the rough-and-tumble Colossus station can intervene without blowing their new recruit’s cover.

Download this episode via Amazonteleplay by Brandon Auman
story by Dave Filoni
directed by Steward Lee and Saul Ruiz
music by Michael Tavera
based on original themes and music by John Williams

Star Wars: ResistanceCast: Christopher Sean (Kazuda Xiono), Josh Brener (Neeku Vozo), Scott Lawrence (Jarek Yeager), Suzie McGrath (Tam Ryvora), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Bobby Moynihan (Orka / Yani), Cherami Leigh (Mia Gabon), Dee Bradley Baker (First Order Comm Officer / Glem / Grevel), Fred Tatasciore (Bolza Grool / Hapless Pilot / Orthog), Greg Proops (Jak Sivrak), Jim Rash (Flix), Jonathan Lipow (Glitch), Lex Lang (Major Vonreg), Myrna Velasco (Torra Doza), Sam Witwer (Hugh Sion), Tovah Dekshuh (Aunt Z / Random Human), Tzi Ma (Hamato Xiono), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron)

Notes: Set prior to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: Resistance is a marked departure in animation style from the Lucasfilm animated series that preceded it, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels. Series creator Dave Filoni wanted the animation style to more closely resemble anime, and drew from his father’s World War II experiences in setting up a scenario in which an obviously imminent threat is ignored by the populace at large.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Doctor Who New Series Season 11

The Woman Who Fell To Earth

Doctor WhoRyan Sinclair is nonplussed by the bicycle his grandmother, Grace, and her husband, Graham, have gotten for him; he suffers from a coordination disorder that makes riding it difficult, though he finds it easy – in a fit of anger – to throw it off a hill. As he’s retrieving it, Ryan sees a three-dimensional geometric shape form in the air; when he touches it, it disappears, replaced by a large blue pod. He calls the police, and is reunited with childhood friend Yasmin Khan, now a police officer in training, when she responds to his call.

Ryan, Grace and Graham are riding the train back into town when the train crashes into something, killing the driver. An undulating mass of electrical wires corners the passengers when a woman crashes through the ceiling of the train and immediately wards off the wires, as if that’s her first instinct. Unfortunately, while she immediately takes charge of the situation, she has no idea who she is, though she claims that she was a Scotsman mere minutes ago, confusing the already-terrified people in her vicinity. After this initial burst of activity, she collapses in Grace and Graham’s home, awakening to find that something has emerged from the pod seen by Ryan. A being called Tzim-Sha is hunting for a designated target on Earth, as part of a ritualistic hunt that determines the status of his race, the Stenza. What he doesn’t know is that he is now up against the Doctor – even if she’s not sure of who she is yet – who is pledged to protect Earth and its people.

Order the DVDwritten by Chris Chibnall
directed by Jamie Childs
music by Segun Akinola

Cast: Jodie Whittaker (The Doctor), Bradley Walsh (Graham O’Brien), Tosin Cole (Ryan Sinclair), Mandip Gill (Yasmin Khan), Sharon D. Clarke (Grace O’Brien), Samuel Oatley (Tim Shaw), Jonny Dixon (Karl), Amit Shah (Rahul), Asha Kingsley (Sonia), Janine Mellor (Janey), Asif Khan (Ramesh Sunder), James Thackeray (Andy), Philip Abiodun (Dean), Stephen MacKenna (Dennis), Everal A. Walsh (Gabriel)

Chris Noth as Robertson in Doctor WhoNotes: After 12 years of the Doctor’s adventures being scored by Murray Gold, this is the first change of music composer in the revived Doctor Who series; ironically, it’s also the first episode in Doctor Who’s 55-year history to completely omit an opening title sequence, so Segun Akinola’s new arrangement of the Doctor Who theme music wouldn’t debut until the following episode, The Ghost Monument. Bradley Walsh had previously appeared as Odd Bob in the Russell T. Davies-era Doctor Who spinoff The Sarah Jane Adventures (Day Of The Clown parts 1 and 2), as well as the 2001 comedy Hotel!, where he shared screen time with once and future Doctors Paul McGann and Peter Capaldi. The episode’s title is a reference to the 1976 movie The Man Who Fell To Earth, starring David Bowie. The teeth are a dead giveaway that Tim Shaw is no relation to Liz Shaw.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Mars Season 2

We Are Not Alone

Mars2042: Mars has been occupied by human scientists and engineers for nine years, working toward the dual goals of finding out more about past microbial life native to the planet and making Mars habitable for human colonists. The original Mars colony has blossomed into a city-like outpost called Olympus Town, another ship from the International Mars Science Foundation is en route, and China has put a crewed space station in orbit of the red planet. But company is coming: Lukrum, a mining corporation from Earth with enough money to go interplanetary, is sending the crew and equipment for its own colony on Mars, devoted not to scientific research but to strip-mining for profit. Their ship’s arrival is explosive, to say the least, with its jettisoned heat shield raining debris down on Olympus Town. Worse yet, Lukrum’s workers arrive on Mars with a demand to connect to Olympus Town’s water supply, citing international treaties requiring the IMSF outpost to assist astronauts in distress. But Hana Seung, still in command of Olympus Town, is skeptical since Lukrum’s “distress” is by design, not by accident. A pipeline is approved by the IMSF, but what isn’t approved is the breakneck pace of construction – putting Lukrum’s employees and the IMSF colonists at risk – or the shortcut that Lukrum Base commander Kurt Hurrelle decides to take through an area that the IMSF has set aside for research.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Dee Johnson
based on the book “How We’ll Live On Mars” by Stephen Petranek
directed by Stephen Cragg
music by Brian Reitzell

MarsCast: Jihae (Hana Seung / Joon Seung), Sammi Rotibi (Robert Foucalt), Alberto Ammann (Javier Delgado), Clementine Poidatz (Amelie Durand), Anamaria Marinca (Marta Kamen), Cosima Shaw (Dr. Leslie Richardson), Gunnar Cauthery (Lt. Michael Glenn), Roxy Sternberg (Jen Carson), Evan Hall (Shep Marster), Jeff Hephner (Kurt Hurrelle), Levi Fiehler (Cameron Pate), Esai Morales (Roland St. John), Martin Angerbauer (Danny), Naomi Christie (Zhen Zhen Yow), Nicholas Goh (Gan Chen), Shea Hephner (Chelsea Hurelle), Timea Kasa (Clerk), David Miller (Assistant), Nicholas Wittman (Oliver Lee)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Orville, The Season 2

Ja’loja

The OrvilleCaptain Mercer has become a frequent flyer at the bar aboard the Orville, and he’s not the only one; his unaddressed feelings for his ex – who still happens to be the Orville‘s first officer – are nagging away at him. Something a bit more basic is nagging at Bortus, though: the time of his Ja’loja, a Moclan ritual that’s somewhere between a birthday and a good long visit to the toilet, approaches, and he asks Mercer to divert the ship to his homeworld. When Mercer confesses his feelings to Commander Grayson, he’s crushed to learn that she’s dating someone else aboard the ship, and his curiosity as to who it is leads him to some less-than-subtle overreach of command privilege. A quick stop at a Union outpost allows a new dark matter cartographer, Lt. Janel Tyler, to come aboard, and Gordon instantly obsesses over how best to ask her out, which could make things a bit awkward since her station is right next to his at the helm. Dr. Finn worries that her oldest son Marcus’ new friend is a bad influence on him, only to discover that his friend’s parents are making that assumption about Marcus.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Seth MacFarlane
directed by Seth MacFarlane
music by John Debney

The OrvilleCast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Halston Sage (Lt. Alara Kitan), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Chad L. Coleman (Klyden), Will Sasso (Mooska), Mike Henry (Dann), Chris Johnson (Cassius), Jason Alexander (Olix), Kai Wener (Ty Finn), B.J. Tanner (Marcus Finn), Blesson Yates (Topa), Jake Brennan (James), Adam J. Smith (Nathan), Kristen O’Meara (Jody), Rachael MacFarlane (Computer Voice), Luke Clark (Kid #1), Alicia Leigh Willis (Woman), Francesca Catalano (Xelayan woman), Melvin Diggs (Shuttle bay lieutenant), Michaela McManus (Lt. Janel Tyler)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
2010s Season 1 Twilight Zone

The Comedian

The Twilight ZoneStruggling comedian Samir Wassan bombs on stage with his usual brand of political humor, and then has a chance encounter with one of his comedy heroes, a man who had it all and then all but vanished from public view. He can’t resist asking for pointers, and is told to use more personal anecdotes from his life…and then to be ready to let those stories go forever. Part of Samir’s next routine concerns his dog…who has disappeared by the time he gets home. In fact, his girlfriend doesn’t remember ever having a dog. Her nephew, after helping him post flyers for his lost dog, accompanies him to the comedy club the next night, and becomes part of the act as well…only to vanish from existence when his name is mentioned. After overcoming an initial wave of guilt, Samir begins mentioning more names in his act, settling old scores, and each time, erasing someone from existence. It’s too late to stop and return to his dead-on-arrival political humor, but Samir’s only beginning to discover how erasing people from history with a mere mention can change the history of those around him. His comedy career on the rise, even Samir’s skeptical peers admit he’s killing it. They just don’t realize how many he’s killing to do it…until someone discovers his secret.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Alex Rubens
directed by Owen Harris
music by Marco Beltrami and Brandon Roberts
original Twilight Zone theme by Marius Constant

The Twilight ZoneCast: Kumail Nanjiani (Samir Wassan), Amara Karan (Rena), Diarra Kilpatrick (Didi Scott), Ryan Robbins (David Kandel), Tracy Morgan (J.C. Wheeler), Marc Joseph (Deven), Toby Hargrave (Joe Donner), Danny Dworkis (Pete), Jacob Machin (Bartender), Briana Rayner (Candy Gower), Darcy Michael (MC), Sean Hewlett (Will), Brendon Zub (Gabe), Harry Han (Finance Bro #3), Melanie Rose Wilson (Waitress), Bryron Bertram (Murray), Lesley Mirza (Marjorie), Khamisa Wilsher (Drunk Woman), Willy Lavendel (Drunk Man), Ryan Beil (Ventriloquist), Jane Stanton (Standup Comic #3), Jordan Peele (The Narrator)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
For All Mankind Season 1

Red Moon

For All MankindJune 26, 1969: Around the world, people gather to watch live television coverage of the first moon landing carried out by human beings from Earth. The coverage is of particular interest to those at NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, where Mission Control is packed with engineers and Apollo astronauts, watching as Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov becomes the first man to set foot on the surface of the moon.

Everyone from the American public to President Nixon demands answers – what happened to NASA’s commanding lead in the race for the moon? Chief astronaut Deke Slayton and Wernher von Braun, the architect of NASA’s Saturn V rocket, find themselves facing the questions of the press. Apollo 10 astronaut Ed Baldwin, like many of the rest of his fellow astronauts, spend the following weekend drowning their sorrows and frustrations at the bar…but Baldwin makes the mistake of opening up to a reporter about how timid and risk-averse he feels NASA has become. When his comments make headlines, Baldwin is pulled from the flight rotation, losing his seat aboard Apollo 15…assuming there is an Apollo 15 following both the Soviets’ surprise victory. NASA and the rest of America continue to pin their hopes on the upcoming Apollo 11 mission, though any talk of ramping up that mission’s schedule is squelched by the need for the crew to not land in total darkness. If, for any reason, Apollo 11 fails, the American space program will likely fail with it.

For All Mankindteleplay by Ronald D. Moore
story by Ronald D. Moore & Matt Wolpert & Ben Nedivi
directed by Seth Gordon
music by Jeff Russo

Cast: Joel Kinnaman (Edward Baldwin), Michael Dorman (Gordo Stevens), Sarah Jones (Tracy Stevens), Shantel VanSanten (Karen Baldwin), Jodi Balfour (Ellen Waverly), Wrenn Schmidt (Margo Madison), Chris Bauer (Deke Slayton), Colm Feore (Wernher von Braun), Eric Ladin (Gene Kranz), Michael J. Harney (Jack Broadstreet), Dan Donohue (Thomas Paine), Arturo Del Puerto (Octavio Rosales), Olivia Trujillo (Aleida Rosales), Ben Begley (Charlie Duke), Rebecca Wisocky (Marge Slayton), Meghan Leathers (Pam Horton), Jeff Branson (Neil Armstrong), Chris Agos (Buzz Aldrin), Ryan Kennedy (Michael Collins), Noah Harpster (Bill Strausser), Nick Toren (Tim “Bird Dog” McKiernan), Daniel Scott Robbins (Hank Poppen), Deniz Akdeniz (Paul Santoro), Brandon Bales (Winston Blake), Dave Power (Frank Sedgewick), Nick Wechsler (Fred), Steven Pritchard (Pete Conrad), Spencer Garrett (Roger Scott), Teddy Blum (young Shane Baldwin), Tony Lewellen (Coop), Jason Scott David (young Daniel Stevens), William Lee Holler (young Jimmy Stevens), Graciana Rosales (Vanessa Lyon), Jeffrey Muller (Del), Max Barsness (Tommy), Christopher Wallinger (Harvey), Paolo Cesar (Guide), Christopher Kohls (Control Officer), Curtis Fortier (Reporter #1), Brian Houtz (Reporter #2), Laura Patalano (Teresa), Frank Gallegos (Angel), Margarita Reyes (Elena), Colton Castaneda (Jim)

For All MankindNotes: Best described as an alternate history of what would have unfolded following surprise Soviet steps on the lunar surface, For All Mankind is an exercise in total speculation and facts that have come to light since the real Apollo 11 mission in 1969. Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, who had already made history as the first human spacewalker, was indeed the Soviets’ choice to command their first lunar mission, though repeated spectacular failures of the real N-1 rocket kept the Soviets from ever putting cosmonauts in lunar orbit, let alone landing there (launch attempts were made in February 1969, as noted in this episode’s dialogue, July 1969, June 1971, and November 1972). Additionally, Nixon’s speech – written for him in the event of the death of the Apollo 11 crew – was indeed real, written by White House speechwriter Bill Safire; the original document, repeated word-for-word in this episode, can be seen online in the National Archives.

Replaced by fictional alternates for dramatic purposes in this story were the actual crew of Apollo 10, astronauts Thomas Stafford, Gene Cernan, and John Young; of the three, only Stafford was still alive at the time this episode aired. Gene Kranz was indeed the lead flight controller on duty for the Apollo 11 landing, though he would become more famous for his relentless push to get the men of the doomed Apollo 13 mission home in 1970, which is the actual source of his quote, “Failure is not an option.” The Apollo Applications Program was a real program as well, and while it perhaps wasn’t as “sexy” as landing on the moon, it wasn’t viewed as “Siberia”, as it would beget such real missions as the Skylab space station program and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. Apollo Applications was simply a typically dry name for a program that would have put the Apollo technology originally For All Mankinddeveloped for the moon landings to use for practical applications both closer to Earth, and further away, including long-duration lunar missions and even an audacious crewed orbital mission to Venus in an uprated Apollo command/service module, a mission which never left the drawing board; in real life, Apollo Applications would fall victim to President Nixon’s aggressive push for what was hoped would be a more cost-effective, reusable vehicle called the Space Shuttle.

Co-created by Star Trek: The Next Generation and Battlestar Galactica writer Ronald D. Moore, For All Mankind is staffed behind the scenes with a considerable number of alumni from both series, including writer/producers Naren Shankar, David Weddle, and Bradley Thompson, producer Steve Oster, technical consultant Michael Okuda, and casting director Junie Lowry-Johnson.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Mandalorian, The Season 1

Chapter 1

Star Wars: The MandalorianYears after the Rebel victory at Endor leaves the Empire scattered and disorganized, a Mandalorian bounty hunter brings in his latest catch…but finds that he has a choice of being paid in full in near-useless Imperial credits, or being paid half in Mon Calamari currency. With the Empire’s fall and order returning slowly under the New Republic, there’s plenty of work for a bounty hunter, but most of it tends to be low-paying retrieval of bail jumpers. But the Mandalorian is offered one job of interest: the capture and return of an “asset” – preferably alive – of importance to a man working with a group of Imperial loyalists and holdovers. The pay is good, but the details of the “asset” – other than it being a fifty-year-old life form – are frustratingly sparse. The Mandalorian takes the job, only to fall afoul of the local fauna, and then discovers that a bounty droid, IG-11, has beaten him to the life form’s hiding place, artlessly doing away with any hope of using the element of surprise in the process. There’s little choice but to team up with the droid…until the true nature of the Mandalorian’s quarry is revealed.

The Mandalorianwritten by Jon Favreau
directed by Dave Filoni
music by Ludwig Goransson

Cast: Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian), Carl Weathers (Greef Karga), Werner Herzog (The Client), Omid Abtahi (Dr. Pershing), Nick Nolte (voice of Kuiil), Taika Waititi (voice of IG-11), John Beasley (Bartender), Horatio Sanz (Mythrol), Tait Fletcher (Alpha Trawler), Ryan Watson (Beta Trawler), Dmitrious Bistrevsky (Quarren Trawler), Christopher Bartlett (Ferryman), Brian Posehn (Speeder Pilot), Emily Swallow (Armorer), Misty Rosas (Kuiil performance artist), Rio Hackford (IG-11 performance artist)

The MandalorianNotes: Set seven years after the fall of the Empire in Return Of The Jedi (and well before the rise of the First Order sometime prior to either The Force Awakens or Star Wars: Resistance), The Mandalorian is the first live-action Star Wars television series to make it into production, and the first live-action Star Wars television of any kind since 1985’s Ewoks: The Battle For Endor. There’s a dialogue nod to the first-ever Star Wars TV special with the Mythrol’s passing mention of Life Day (1978’s Star Wars Holiday Special); apparently his captor is unconvinced of his desire to celebrate a Wookiee holiday. Unlike previous bounty hunters we’ve met in the movies, the Mandalorian has his own carbon freezing facility on board his ship, so no side trips to Cloud City are necessary.

LogBook entry by Earl Green