Tag: Season Premiere

Categories
Robert's Robots Season 1

Follow That Robot

Robert's RobotsEccentric inventor Robert Sommerby designs and builds robots – some of them smarter than others – and this has brought him to the attention of the government, as well as earning some research grant money from them as well. Mr. Fosdyke, a visitor from the Ministry of Technology, pays Robert a visit, meets the hulking but none-too-smart robot Katie, and is stunned to learn that Robert’s robots are being programmed to experience emotions. Fosdyke wants Robert’s research to remain top secret.

That doesn’t matter to Mr. Gimble, the private investigator sitting outside Robert’s lab. His employer, the mysterious and heavily-accented Mr. Marken, has ties to international electronics companies who will pay handsomely for Robert’s research – without actually paying Robert, of course. Gimble climbs over the fence and breaks into the lab, hurriedly donning a lab coat when he hears someone coming. His visitor is none other than Mr. Fosdyke…who has been told to go meet the robot wearing a lab coat with an “R” on the back. But how long will he follow Gimble around in the belief that Gimble is a robot?

Robert's Robotswritten by Bob Block
directed by Vic Hughes
music not credited

Cast: John Clive (Robert Sommerby), Brian Coburn (Katie), Nigel Pegram (Eric), Doris Rogers (Aunt Millie), Richard Davies (Gimble), Leon Lissek (Marken), Robert Dorning (Fosdyke), Dudley Jones (Doctor Randell), Larry Noble (Man), Janet Burnell (Woman)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 11 Doctor Who

The Time Warrior

Doctor WhoA battle-scarred Sontaran spaceship crashes in medieval England near the castle of Irongron, a plundering pirate who intends to overrun the nearby castle belonging to Sir Edward of Wessex. Linx, the Sontaran warrior, strikes an agreement with Irongron – Linx can repair his ship in Irongron’s castle, in exchange for giving him advanced weapons which are centuries ahead of the times. But Linx finds it impossible to conduct his repairs with nothing more advanced than Irongron’s forge, so he used what’s left of his ship’s technology to abduct scientists and materials from the 20th century. U.N.I.T. is called in to investigate, and the Brigadier isolates all of the remaining scientists who are likely to vanish in one securely guarded premise. But when another scientist disappears under the Doctor’s nose, he follows the trail to Irongron’s castle, where he finds himself up against the much more powerful and warlike Linx.

written by Robert Holmes
directed by Alan Bromly
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), Kevin Lindsay (Linx), David Daker (Irongron), John J. Carney (Bloodaxe), Sheila Fay (Meg), Donald Pelmear (Professor Rubeish), June Brown (Lady Eleanor), Alan Rowe (Edward of Wessex), Gordon Pitt (Eric), Jeremy Bulloch (Hal), Steve Brunswick (Sentry), Jacqueline Stanbury (Mary)

Broadcast from December 15, 1973 through January 5, 1974

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Season 1 Six Million Dollar Man

Population: Zero

The Six Million Dollar ManNorris, California, population: 23…at least until a California highway patrolman pulls into town and reports that everyone in Norris is dead. After just a few minutes of investigating the scene, he too keels over, clutching his head and screaming in pain. Oscar feels that Steve Austin is too valuable a resource to send into what may still be a dangerous situation, but Steve grew up near Norris and refuses to stay away. Despite the fact that no hazardous chemicals or radiation have been detected, Steve dons a spacesuit and walks into town, finding not just one survivor, but many – everyone in Norris is alive. The survivors’ stories lead Steve to believe that ultrasonic sound waves being used by a disgraced government scientist are the culprit; ransom notes dropped by helicopter demand millions of dollars, or the sonic weapon will be used against another town, this time leaving no survivors.

written by Elroy Schwartz
directed by Jeannot Swzarc
music by Oliver Nelson

The Six Million Dollar ManCast: Lee Majors (Steve Austin), Richard Anderson (Oscar Goldman), Martin E. Brooks (Dr. Rudy Wells), Penny Fuller (Dr. Chris Forbes), Don Porter (Dr. Stanley Bacon), Paul Carr (Paul Cord), Paul Fix (Joe Taylor), Walter Brooke (General Harland Tate), Morgan Jones (Major Phillips), Colby Chester (Joe Hollister), John Elerick (Corporal Ed Presby), Virginia Gregg (Mrs. Nelson), Stuart Nisbet (Harry Johnson), Bob Delegall (1st Technician), David Valentine (Teletype Operator), Mike Santiago (Frank)

The Six Million Dollar ManNotes: Steve’s bionic limbs and implants are shown to be vulnerable to extreme cold. (Insert Stone Cold Steve Austin joke here.) The casting for this episode really went where no man has gone before: both Paul Carr and Paul Fix guest starred as, respectively, helmsman Lt. Kelso and Dr. Piper, in the second Star Trek pilot. (Their former captain, William Shatner, would be appearing alongside The Six Million Dollar Man later in the show’s first season.)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 2 Tomorrow People

The Blue And The Green – Part 1: An Apple For The Teacher

Tomorrow PeopleWith Carol and Kenny having left to live on other worlds, John and Stephen keep their eyes open for other Tomorrow People, perhaps even those who have yet to experience their “breaking out”. One of Stephen’s classmates gets their attention by drawing an accurate artistic representation of another planet, a world about which a normal human would know nothing. But more alarmingly, the weather depicted in the picture changes, affecting the mood of everyone in the class. This happens much to the alarm of Elizabeth, a new student teacher, who admits privately to Stephen that she can overhear his telepathic communication with John and TIM.

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

Tomorrow PeopleCast: Elizabeth Adare (Elizabeth), Nicholas Young (John), Peter Vaughan-Clarke (Stephen), Philip Gilbert (TIM), Jason Kemp (Robert), Ray Burdis (Johnson), Nova Llewellyn (Joy)

Notes: John says that Carol and Kenny are “no longer living on Earth”; cast members Sammie Winmill and Stephen Salmon elected not to remain with the series.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 1 Shazam!

The Joy Riders

Shazam!Young Billy Batson has been given a special power by the immortals: by speaking the word “Shazam!”, he can transform into Captain Marvel. But this is a last resort, as Billy himself is meant to be learning from both the immortals and Mentor as they travel across the country.

Billy and Mentor take note of a group of boys who are starting down a dangerous path, “harmlessly” borrowing cars for joyrides. One of the boys, Chuck, is less enthusiastic about joining his friends; he knows they’re doing something wrong. But when the peer pressure mounts, Chuck gives in and joins them, finding himself in enough trouble that it may take Captain Marvel to save them.

written by Len Janson & Chuck Menville
directed by Hollingsworth Morse
music by Horta-Mahana

Shazam!Cast: Michael Gray (Billy Batson), Les Tremayne (Mentor), Jackson Bostwick (Captain Marvel), Kerry MacLane (Chuck Wagner), Barry Miller (Mike), Ty Henderson (Kyle), Lee Joe Casey (Rich)

Notes: Ty Henderson would be cast as a series regular on a later Filmation live-action series, Space Academy. This is not the first filmed adaptation of Captain Marvel; the first was a 1941 theatrical serial released during the character’s WWII heyday, at a time when Fawcett Publications’ Captain Marvel comic book was routinely outselling Superman, published by rival National Comics (later to change names to Shazam!DC Comics). But that was also the year that National Comics sued Fawcett for copyright infrignement, a suit that was initially decided in Fawcett’s favor, but a 1951 appeal gave National Comics the upper hand. The two companies settled out of court, with Fawcett backing out of the comics business altogether. DC Comics licensed and revived Captain Marvel – quite probably for the sheer perversity of keeping a character named Captain Marvel out of the hands of its new rival, Marvel Comics – in 1972, keeping the character alive through what is now widely regarded as the Silver Age of comics. In 1980, DC put enough money on the table for Fawcett to hand over all rights to Captain Marvel and its other comics to DC in perpetuity.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Original Series (Animated) Season 02 Star Trek

The Pirates of Orion

Star Trek ClassicStardate 6334.1: A small epidemic of choriocytosis strikes the Enterprise crew, but it is considered a minor bug until Spock contracts the disease, which can be fatal to Vulcans. Worse yet, the antidote that will save Spock’s life is a rare substance, and the nearest source is four days away. When Orion pirates attack a ship ferrying the vital medicine to the Enterprise, Kirk embarks on a risky quest not only for Spock’s sake, but for the freedom of the space shipping lanes…but the price of securing that freedom could be the destruction of the Enterprise.

Season 2 Regular Voice Cast: William Shatner (Captain Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy), James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), James Doohan (Lt. Arrex), Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel)

Order the DVDswritten by Howard Weinstein
directed by Hal Sutherland
music by Yvette Blais & Jeff Michael

Guest Voice Cast: James Doohan (Captain O’Shea), James Doohan (Orion Commander)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Land Of The Lost Original Season 1

Cha-Ka

Land Of The LostOn a rafting trip, the Marshall family is deposited into another world after a huge earthquake sends them over an uncharted waterfall. The presence of three moons in the night sky is their first clue that they’re no longer on Earth, and yet the jungle world is populated by dinosaurs straight out of Earth’s prehistoric age.

On the run from a tyrannosaurus rex, Will and Penny Marshall stop to help a chimp-like Paku named Cha-Ka. In his own flight from the T-rex, Cha-Ka has broken his leg. Will and Penny’s father, Rich Marshall, reluctantly allows them to offer shelter to their new friend. Cha-Ka is fascinated by the humans’ ability to create fire seemingly from nothing, and sneaks out of the Marshalls’ “home” cave with a lighter. The Marshalls follow him, only to find themselves at the mercy of the dreaded T-rex once more. But will Cha-Ka lead them to safety or sacrifice his new friends to make his own escape?

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by David Gerrold
directed by Dennis Steinmetz
music by Jimmie Haskell / theme music by Linda Laurie

Cast: Spencer Milligan (Rick Marshall), Wesley Eure (Will Marshall), Kathy Coleman (Penny Marshall), Sharon Baird (Paku), Joe Giamalva (Paku), Philip Paley (Cha-Ka)

Notes: A fondly-remembered cornerstone of NBC’s Saturday morning children’s lineup for three years, Land Of The Lost is populated – at least behind the scenes – by veterans of the original Star Trek. David Gerrold wrote the pilot and numerous other Land Of The Lostinstallments, as well as script-editing the series (and, in interviews for the DVD release of the series, Gerrold says he was responsible for nailing down the series concepts into a coherent writers’ bible, although Allan Foshko and executive producers Sid and Marty Krofft are credited with creating the series). Art director Herman Zimmerman would be later be involved with Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and virtually all of the Star Trek feature films that were released during those two series’ run. Original series prop and monster-maker Wah Chang created the detailed animated dinosaur models, which were truly impressive for a television show in the early ’70s, and Michael Westmore – credited as “Mike” – handled the series’ creature makeup. Other Trek veterans crop up during the series’ run – see if you can spot them all!

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Kolchak The Night Stalker Season 1

The Ripper

Night StalkerA serial killer is on the loose, leaving a trail of mutilated female corpses in his wake. Kolchak has been assigned to handle Miss Emily Fenwick’s letter column after irritating the police. The reporter can’t stay away, however, and is soon witness to a number of occurrences where the press-dubbed Ripper, seemingly immunity to gunfire and possessed of superhuman strength, escapes the police with ease on several occasions. Kolchak soon comes to believe that the murderer is the 19th century Jack the Ripper, gifted with immortality. Going back through the historical accounts, Carl discovers that the Ripper broke off his killings in New York with the invention of the electric chair. From this, he suspects that electricity may be the Ripper’s one weakness. Following up the lead of an elderly writer to the “Dear Emily” letter column, he tracks the Ripper to the abandoned house where he has made his lair.

Season 1 Regular Cast: Darren McGavin (Carl Kolchak), Simon Oakland (Tony Vincenzo), Jack Grinnage (Ron Updyke), Ruth McDevitt (Emily/Edith Fenwick/ Cowels/Cowles), John Fiedler (Gordan “Gordy the Ghoul” Spangler), Carole Anne Susi (Monique Marmelstein)

Order the DVDswritten by Rudolph Brochert
directed by Allen Baron
music by Gil Mille

Guest Cast: Beatrice Colen (Jane Plumm), Ken Lynch (Captain Warren), Mickey Gilbert (The Ripper), Ruth McDevitt (Elderly Woman)

Notes: Ironically, the premiere episode aired on Friday the 13th (9/13/74). Ruth McDevitt plays an elderly woman who writes to the “Dear Emily” letter column. A few episodes later, she plays Miss Emily. In this episode, Emily’s last name is Fenwick.

LogBook entry by Steve Crowe

Categories
Season 1 Star Blazers

S.O.S. Earth: Revive Space Battleship Yamato

Star Blazers2199 A.D.: At the end of the 22nd century, planet Earth has been laid to waste by decades of radioactive planet bombs launched by the all-conquering Gamilons. The surviving human population has resorted to elaborate underground cities to survive, but the radiation will soon reach a point beyond which the surface of the Earth cannot protect them. All life on Earth is doomed.

Captain Avatar, one of the Earth Defense Force’s most seasoned leaders, commands a futile action against Gamilon forces which have now gained a solid foothold in Earth’s solar system on Pluto. The battle quickly turns against the human warriors, and with only two ships left of the fleet he led to Pluto, Avatar orders a retreat. The captain of the other ship, Alex Wildstar, disobeys direct orders and covers Avatar’s retreat – at the cost of his own life. Only Avatar and his surviving crew escape the slaughter, and the Gamilon presence in the solar system is left unchecked.

Meanwhile on Mars, Cadets Mark Venture and Derek Wildstar – Alex’s younger brother – discover the remains of a crashed spacecraft, neither of Earth or Gamilon origin. The sole occupant, a beautiful young woman, died in the ship’s violent landing, protecting a message capsule to the last. Wildstar and Venture are picked up by Avatar’s returning battleship, bringing the mysterious capsule with them.

Once decoded, the capsule turns out to be a message from Queen Starsha of the distant but peaceful planet Iscandar. Starsha offers a solution to Earth’s imminent doom in the form of Cosmo DNA, which can only be obtained on her world. The message also includes complete instructions for building a new propulsion system which will make the journey, spanning hundreds of thousands of light years, possible within one year.

Wildstar and Venture are summoned to a city constructed beneath what was once an ocean floor. Lodged in the surface above them lies the great World War II battleship Yamato, which is secretly being refitted into an advanced, one-of-a-kind starship using Starsha’s wave motion engine designs. To their surprise, the cadets have been hand-picked to join the command crew of the new vessel – which is to be commanded by Captain Avatar, whom Wildstar blames for Alex’s death.

But before the mighty Yamato can be rechristened Argo and launched on the last desperate mission to save the human race, the Gamilons launch an attack to destroy the ship on the ground – unless the ship’s new crew can pull together quickly and repel the assault.

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

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

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 12 Doctor Who

Robot

Doctor WhoThe Doctor’s regeneration and recovery come at an inopportune time for the Brigadier, who has to try to solve a series of crimes related to the top-secret plans for a disintegrator gun. Sarah, researching a story about the equally top-secret Think Tank organization, is introduced to a gigantic robot which could be the perpetrator of the thefts and killings – despite the scientists’ horrifying demonstration that the robot could not kill Sarah. The Doctor, recovering slowly and aggravating the Brigadier with his unpredictable new personality, discovers that the Think Tank scientists are doing much more than research – they’re planning on taking over the world and culling the human herd of those not up to genius standards.

Season 12 Regular Cast: Tom Baker (The Doctor), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Ian Marter (Harry Sullivan)

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Terrance Dicks
directed by Christopher Barry
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), John Levene (RSM Benton), Edward Burnham (Professor Kettlewell), Alec Linstead (Jellicoe), Patricia Maynard (Miss Winters), Michael Kilgarriff (Robot), John Scott Martin (Guard), Timothy Craven (Short), Walter Goodman (Chambers)

Broadcast from December 28, 1974 through January 18, 1975

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Original Series 1 Survivors

The Fourth Horseman

Survivors (1970s series)A routine day in Abby Grant’s cozy world starts to unravel slowly. Her son’s school is locked down due to a flu outbreak – only the latest such outbreak in recent weeks – and her husband’s train is delayed by hours due to power outages and rail backups all the way to inner London. In London itself, Jenny Richards tries to get a doctor to make a house call for her ailing roommate, but by the time help arrives, the woman has died. The doctor admits that the fast-spreading disease is not the flu – and that even modern medicine in a major city like London cannot find a cure. He urges Jenny to head for the safety of the country: before long, the inner city will be piled up with the dead, unleashing more diseases that, despite being fairly common, will wipe out those who remain without medical services. Jenny packs her bags and starts making her way out of London. People make their way to churches and other refuges, and fear leads to isolation. Those seeking shelter are turned away; every man, woman and child must fend for themselves. As the disease wipes out much of the world’s population, the facade of civilization melts away.

Abby herself has fallen ill with the disease, and her husband leaves to find a doctor. But while Abby survives her infection, her husband dies. She sets out alone and finds no survivors in her relatively isolated village; the dead pile up in church pews, living rooms, and cars. Abby finally leaves to go retrieve her son from his boarding school, and is almost relieved to find that her son is missing – at least he’s not among the dead. She finds only one man alive on the entire campus, a teacher who reveals that Abby’s son was among a small group of students who were evacuated just before the disease spread through the student body like wildfire. Armed with this information, Abby returns home one last time to prepare for the quest to find her son – and to say goodbye to the life she once knew.

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

Cast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Talfryn Thomas (Tom Price), Peter Bowles (David Grant), Peter Copley (Doctor Bronson), Christopher Reich (Andrew Tyler), Margaret Anderson (Mrs. Transon), Callum Mill (Doctor Gordon), Blake Butler (Mr. Pollard), Elizabeth Sinclair (Patricia), Giles Melville (Kevin Lloyd), Len Jones (First Youth)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 13 Doctor Who

Terror Of The Zygons

Doctor WhoRecalled to Earth by the Brigadier via time-space telegraph, the TARDIS brings the Doctor, Sarah and Harry to the Scottish moors, not far from where offshore oil drilling platforms have been subjected to a series of attacks from the sea – but UNIT can find no traces of attacks from either a boat or a submarine. In the nearest village, the Doctor uncovers evidence that someone there may be behind the attacks, and Harry is shot while trying to help a man washed ashore from the latest attack.

Season 13 Regular Cast: Tom Baker (The Doctor), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith)

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

Guest Cast: Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), Ian Marter (Harry Sullivan), John Levene (RSM Benton), John Woodnutt (Duke of Forgill / Broton), Hugh Martin (Munro), Tony Sibbald (Huckle), Angus Lennie (Angus McRanald), Robert Russell (The Caber), Bruce Wightman (Radio Operator), Lillias Walker (Sister Lamont), Bernard G. High (Corporal)

Broadcast from August 30 through September 20, 1975

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Season 1 Space: 1999

Breakaway

Space: 1999Commander John Koenig is hand-picked to take over at the manned lunar colony Moonbase Alpha, the site of the impending launch of an interstellar probe to the planet Meta, and also the site of a slowly spreading epicdemic that endangers that mission. When Koenig arrives, he finds a supportive old friend in Professor Victor Bergman, and a somewhat perturbed chief surgeon, Dr. Helena Russell. Dr. Russell has been diagnosing the victims of the outbreak as they progress from mental aberrations to a comatose state and finally to death, and she has made a few discoveries – but all of her recommendations have gone unheeded (and worse yet, have been considered unfounded) by space program commissioner Simmonds. Koenig soon finds that Simmonds has been ignoring any reports that don’t indicate a perfectly normal situation, and decides to force the commissioner’s hand by bringing him to Moonbase Alpha in person.

Following Dr. Russell’s leads, Koenig postpones the launch of the Meta probe and leads an investigation into strange happenings at the station’s nuclear waste facility, where unwanted material from Earth is being stockpiled until scientists can figure out what to do with it. Koenig finds out only too late that far too much nuclear waste has been shipped in from Earth, setting up an unanticipated electromagnetic effect that accounts for the strange behavior of both equipment and crewmen. An emergency operation is set up to disperse the material, but the procedure goes horribly wrong – a colossal nuclear explosion generates enough force to push the moon out of Earth’s orbit, destroying the Meta probe’s launch facility and inflicting massive damage on Moonbase Alpha in the process. With the base’s communications down, and the moon plummeting through deep space too fast for any rescue ship from Earth to catch up with it, Earth presumes all hands have been lost – and Commander Koenig and his crew have a new permanent assignment…whether they want it or not.

Season 1 Regular Cast: Martin Landau (Commander John Koenig), Barbara Bain (Dr. Helena Russell), Barry Morse (Professor Victor Bergman)

Order the DVDswritten by George Bellak
directed by Lee H. Katzin
music by Barry Gray / additional music by Vic Elms

Guest Cast: Roy Dotrice (Commissioner Symonds), Prentis Hancock (Paul Morrow), Zienia Merton (Sandra Benes), Anton Phillips (Dr. Mathias), Nick Tate (Alan Carter), Philip Madoc (Commander Gorski), Lon Satton (Ouma), Eric Carte (Collins)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Land Of The Lost Original Season 2

Tar Pit

Land Of The LostTar pits are nothing new where/when the Marshalls come from – dinosaur fossils aplenty have been found there in the 20th century, after all – but they have an urgent dilemma when Dopey finds himself sinking into a tar pit from which he doesn’t seem to be able to escape despite their best efforts. Unless the Marshalls and the Paku can rescue Dopey, the most inoffensive of the local dinosaurs may become a fossil himself.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Margaret Armen
directed by Gordon Wiles
music by Michael Lloyd

Land Of The LostCast: Spencer Milligan (Rick Marshall), Wesley Eure (Will Marshall), Kathy Coleman (Penny Marshall), Phillip Paley (Cha-Ka), Scutter McKay (Ta), Sharon Baird (Sa)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Isis Season 1

The Lights of Mystery Mountain

IsisCindy surprises Andrea and Rick with clear photos of UFOs spotted near Mystery Mountain, as well as photos showing burn marks on the ground near the sightings. When a report comes in that someone renting a cabin on Mystery Mountain has disappeared, Andrea and Rick decide to investigate. They witness the spectacle of the UFOs themselves when they arrive, and Cindy’s photos attract the attention of a couple of teenagers who seem to have a great deal of interest in the UFO sightings. But are they interested in seeing the UFOs…or in covering something up?

Get this season on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Russell Bates
directed by Hollingsworth Morse
music by Yvette Blais & Jeff Michael

Cast: Joanna Cameron (Andrea Thomas), Brian Cutler (Rick Mason), IsisJoanna Pang (Cindy Lee), Kelly Thordsen (Joel Moss), Hank Brandt (Sheriff Harley), Ken Wolger (Art Byron), Mike Maitland (Chick), Albert Reed (Dr. Barnes)

LogBook entry by Earl Green