Tag: Season Premiere

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Season 2 Star Blazers

2201: Yamato Returns!

Star Blazers2201 A.D.: In the year it has taken Earth to recover from the Gamilon holocaust, more distant reaches of space – twice as far from Earth as Iscandar – have been falling to the might of the Comet Empire, under the command of Prince Zordar. Worse still, Zordar has his sights set on Earth – and Leader Desslok, having barely escaped his last encounter with the Star Force, has joined the Comet Empire as a military advisor. Desslok’s goal is not the greater glory of the Comet Empire, but his own vengeance against the crew of the Argo. The Argo is now commanded by Deputy Captain Derek Wildstar, and many of her crew members have been reassigned to other duties. Nova, Sandor, Dr. Sane and IQ-9 have been stationed on Earth, while Wildstar and Homer are among the few original crew members on the Argo for the ship’s security patrol of the outer solar system.

The Comet Empire’s first attack in Earth space is unsuccessful, and the Argo barely escapes – but Wildstar suspects that his unknown attackers are only beginning to make their presence known.

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

Season 2 Voice Cast: Kenneth Meseroll (Derek Wildstar), Tom Tweedy (Mark Venture), Amy Howard (Nova), Eddie Allen (Leader Desslok), Chris Latta (Sgt. Knox), Lydia Leeds (Trelaina), Chris Latta (General Dire), Chris Latta (Captain Gideon), other actors unknown

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Alien Worlds Season 1

The Sunstealers – Part 1

Alien WorldsAboard the Starlab space station orbiting Earth, research director Maura Cassidy finds herself in the midst of extraordinary events when all of the station’s instruments indicate that the sun is collapsing. The entire inner solar system fleet of the International Space Authority depends on solar energy, as does Earth itself, and preparations are made to send an expedition to take closer measuresments and perhaps find out the cause. Captain Graydon leads the mission, though Cassidy is less than thrilled to learn that his co-pilot will be Captain Griff, a man who she holds responsible for her father’s death on a past expedition. Though they are warned of the possibility by an excitable scientist named Tim, Graydon and Griff are still stunned to find a new planetoid inside the orbit of Venus, occupied by the insectoid Marcabs, who care nothing that their rapid “mining” of the sun will spell doom for humanity.

written by Mike Hodel and Lee Hansen
directed by Lee Hansen
music by Jim Kirk

Cast: Roger Dressler (Narrator), Linda Gary (Maura Cassidy), Bruce Phillip Miller (Captain Jon Graydon), Corey Burton (Jerry Lyden), Chuck Olsen (Captain Buddy Griff), Jeff Allen (Tim), Stu Jacobs (Zarr Khonar), Tom Rounds (Gargon)

Notes: Starlab’s formal name is the Arthur C. Clarke Astronomical Observatory. Alien Worlds was syndicated to radio stations across America (and elsewhere in the English-speaking world) by Watermark, a radio syndication company that had already made its fame as the originators of America’s Top 40 with Casey Kasem. (Kasem himself would guest star in a later episode of Alien Worlds.) Though not as universally popular as Kasem’s pop music countdown show, Alien Worlds was popular enough to merit two full seasons; production was brought to a halt and the series was cancelled after four installments of a third season had been produced. Corey Burton’s voice acting career continues to this day, and he can be heard in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and dozens of video games.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Blake's 7 Season 2

Redemption

Blake's 7The crew of the Liberator have begun extensively checking the ship for any defects that could result in Orac’s prediction, but no one can find a cause – except for Avon. In the recording of Orac’s prediction, a starfield unique anywhere in the universe is seen behind the Liberator just prior to her predicted destruction, and according to Avon, all the crew has to do is make sure the ship never goes near that point. But before any more can be said, two ships similar to the Liberator in design approach from out of nowhere at unimaginable speed and attack – carefully knocking out specific systems, such as weapons and flight control. When Blake and Avon try overriding the computers, the ship fights back, lashing out with live power and locking Avon in a room where he has just set an explosive charge. Zen even goes offline, and the ship is boarded. Gan is attacked and disappears, while Vila and Cally are the next to go. Blake orders Orac to influence the computers and bring them back online, and the flight deck is suddenly taken over by aliens who pilot the Liberator inside a gigantic, world-sized space station, again similar in design. It becomes clear that the minions of the computer-controlled entity called “The System” were the original builders and owners of the Liberator and want her back. Blake notices, during an interrogation by System custodians, that the System’s computers are gradually having difficulty operating, and correctly guesses that Orac is responsible. Avon, while waiting in a prison cell for execution, looks out a porthole and sees the very star configuration that he noticed behind Liberator in Orac’s prediction.

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

Cast: Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter Tuddenham (Zen), Sheila Ruskin (Alta One), Harriet Philpin (Alta Two), Roy Evans (Slave)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 17 Doctor Who

Destiny Of The Daleks

Doctor WhoThe TARDIS brings the Doctor and Romana to a desolate wasteland of a planet, one whose atmosphere is so radioactive that it can be toxic even to Time Lords without proper precautions – the post-atomic-war Skaro, home world of the Daleks. When the two are separated, Romana is trailed by a disheveled human. Convinced that he means her harm, she runs right into a barely-buried chute that deposits her underground in the waiting arms of the Daleks themselves. The Doctor meets the attractive humanoid crew of a nearby space vessel, who call themselves Movellans. At war with the spacefaring Daleks for centuries, the Movellans have followed their enemies back to Skaro to prevent them from unearthing a “secret weapon”: Davros, whose life support system was damaged but not disabled, has apparently survived in a dormant state. His more emotional, cunning strategies could give the Daleks the edge. The Movellans hope that the Doctor and Romana can give them the same edge – and worst of all, the two Time Lords aren’t exactly being given a choice about replacing the Movellans’ battle computers.

Season 17 Regular Cast: Tom Baker (The Doctor), Lalla Ward (Romana), David Brierly (voice of K9)

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Terry Nation
directed by Ken Grieve
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Tim Barlow (Tyssan), Peter Straker (Commander Sharrel), Suzanne Danielle (Agella), Tony Osoba (Lan), David Gooderson (Davros), Roy Skelton, David Gooderson (Dalek voices), Cy Town, Mike Mungarvan, Toby Byrne, Tony Starr (Daleks), Penny Casdagla (Jall), David Yip (Veldan)

Broadcast from September 1 through 22, 1979

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Jason Of Star Command Season 2

Mission To The Stars

Jason Of Star CommandJason picks an inopportune time to kick the tires and light the fire on Professor Parsafoot’s new and improved Starfire: a new commander is arriving to take over Star Command, and he’s rumored to be strictly by-the-book. Commander Stone is less than impressed with Jason’s “antics”. A derelict spaceship with no life signs drifts into Star Command’s vicinity, but a robot probe sent to inspect it is blown out of the sky. Jason goes to investigate and finds a woman named Samantha frozen in suspended animation. She claims to be one of the last survivors of an invasion of her planet by Dragos. And while Jason is away, a distress call lures Star Command into a trap set by Dragos.

Order this series on DVDwritten by Ted Pedersen
directed by Arthur H. Nadel
music by Yvette Blais & Jeff Michael

Jason Of Star CommandCast: Craig Littler (Jason), Charlie Dell (Professor E.J. Parsafoot), John Russell (The Commander), Sid Haig (Dragos), Tamara Dobson (Samantha)

Notes: Drago has built a new Dragonship since his escape in season 1’s finale. Commander Stone is from a planet in the “Alpha Centauri cluster”. W1K1 now has a voice. In one of the first (and only) onscreen acknowledgement’s of season one’s voiceover description of Jason as a “soldier of fortune”, Jason points out that he is “not under the direct jurisdiction of Star Command”. Jason’s exact relationship to Star Command and/or Space Academy is left unclear.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Buck Rogers Season 1

Buck Rogers In The 25th Century / Arrival

Buck Rogers In The 25th CenturyRanger 3, a manned deep space probe launched by NASA in 1987, plunges off-course after a meteor collision. A malfunction of the life support system preserves the ship’s sole occupant, pilot William “Buck” Rogers, in suspended animation. NASA never hears from Ranger 3 again, and the human race all but destroys itself in Rogers’ absence.

Ranger 3 is recovered by the flagship of the Draconian race in the Earth year 2491. When revived by Princess Ardala and her henchman Kane, Buck is interrogated. The Draconians claim to be on a mission of peace, but Buck wasn’t born yesterday – he was born five centuries ago, and he can tell when something’s afoot. Buck is turned loose – with a homing device planted aboard his ship, unknown to him – and makes his way back to Earth, where he is stunned to learn how long it has been since he last set foot on his home world. But even there, Buck is suspected of being a spy by everyone except Dr. Theopolis, a computerized brain who serves on the Computer Council that governs Earth. Buck also earns the trust of Twiki, a chatty, servile robot. When Colonel Deering and Dr. Huer discover the Draconian homing device, Buck is put on trial. Despite the valiant defense offered by Dr. Theopolis, Buck is found guilty of treason and sentenced to death.

Colonel Deering offers Buck one last chance to prove his word by taking him along on a mission to escort the Draconian flagship to Earth in peace. The peace is cut short by what appears to be a pirate attack – and with the marauders’ unpredictable flying, only Buck’s headstrong, old-fashioned air combat training saves the Earth pilots – and, so it seems, the Draconian flagship. Princess Ardala is welcomed to Earth in an elaborate celebration. Dazzled by her beauty, and knowing that it is now well within the power of the Draconians to conquer Earth, Buck must make a choice – run away with the winning side (and the beautiful princess), or fight a hopeless battle to save a world he no longer knows?

Order the DVDswritten by Glen A. Larson & Leslie Stevens
directed by Daniel Haller
music by Stu Phillips

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Pamela Hensley (Princess Ardala), Erin Gray (Wilma Deering), Henry Silva (Kane), Tim O’Connor (Doctor Huer), Joseph Wiseman (Draco), Dick Butler (Tigerman), Felix Silla (Twiki), Caroline Smith (Young woman), John Dewey-Carter (Supervisor), Kevin Coates (Pilot), David Cadiente (Comtel officer), Gil Serna (Technician), Larry Duran (Guard #1), Kenny Endoso (Guard #2), Eric Lawrence (Officer), H.B. Haggerty (Tigerman #2), Colleen Kelly (Wrather), Steve Jones (Pilot #2), David Buchanan (Pilot #3), Burt Marshall (Wingman), Eric Server (voice of Dr. Theopolis), Mel Blanc (voice of Twiki), William Conrad (Narrator/Draconian computer voice)

Notes: This pilot movie is frequently referred to as Arrival, though that title never appears on screen.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Monkey Season 1

Monkey Goes Wild About Heaven

MonkeyAn elemental force of nature born from a stone egg, Monkey began life as a stone monkey, but now assumes human form in his ongoing battle of order against chaos against a legion of demons. But while he seeks to bring order to the world around him, Monkey’s love of this fight against the havoc demons means that he’s a chaotic whirl of action, often leaving collateral damage in his wake. To sate Monkey’s considerable ego when he tries to storm Heaven itself, the title of Great Sage, Equal of Heaven, is bestowed upon him, and he is put in charge of Heaven’s orchard of magical peach trees. Monkey promptly begins eating the peaches, whose magical properties make him immortal, and becomes infatuated with Lady Vega, consort of the Emperor of Heaven. He’s willing to start a war in Heaven to win her, and two fighters are sent to stop him – and they fail. The Emperor of Heaven banishes both of them to Earth, turning one of them into a pig and the other into a water spirit, and then summons the help of the Buddha. Assuming a female form, the Buddha assigns Monkey a task, which he thinks is easily accomplished…but in fact he fails and is also banished to Earth.

written by Mamoru Sasaki and Isoa Okishima
based on the story by Wu Ch’Eng-En
adapted by David Weir
directed by Yusuki Watanabe
English dub directed by Michael Bakewell
music by Micky Yoshino / theme performed by Godiego

MonkeyCast: Masaaki Sakai (Monkey), Masako Natsume (Tripitaka), Shirô Kishibe (Sandy), Toshiyuki Nishida (Pigsy), Takao Inoue (Emperor), Yatsuko Tanami (Buddha), Emi Shindo (Lady Vega), Maki Carcer (Demon), David Collings (Monkey’s voice – English dub), Maria Warburg (Tripitaka’s voice – English dub), Gareth Armstrong (Sandy’s voice – English dub), Peter Woodthorpe (Pigsy’s voice – English dub), Frank Duncan (Narrator – English dub), Cecile Chevreau (Buddha’s voice – English dub), Miriam Margolyes (Voices – English dub), Peter Marinker (Voices – English dub)

MonkeyNotes: The airdate shown here reflects the BBC2 premiere date rather than the Japanese premiere date on NTV. Monkey is a satirical Japanese take on the 16th-century Chinese novel Saiyuki (a.k.a. Journey To The West), a staple of Chinese literature that has been adapted dozens of times, both more faithfully told and more bizarrely told (it’s also the basis for the Dragonball franchise). Monkey initiates what is now apparently a tradition of casting a woman as the young male priest Tripitaka.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Blake's 7 Season 3

Aftermath

Blake's 7The Liberator is damaged heavily in the ensuing war and starts away from the main battles. The life support system begins to fail and the crew must abandon ship. Avon is knocked out when debris from a hit near the life capsule launch area collapses on him, and Cally and Vila get him into a capsule. Landing on the planet Serran, Avon is saved from vicious natives by a young woman called Dayna, who takes him to her father’s underwater home base. On the way there, they encounter Servalan, who has deposed the High Council, declared herself President, and has topped all this by getting herself marooned. Servalan attempts to seduce Avon, but he resists and uses Orac to signal the Liberator. In an attempt to steal Orac and slip away, Servalan is stopped by Dayna’s blind father, who is killed by Servalan. Dayna vows vengeance and she and Avon set out to find Servalan. After “rescuing” Servalan from the restless natives, Avon recovers Orac, and with Dayna he returns to the Liberator when it arrives, while Servalan hides away in the undersea installation. On returning to the ship, Avon and Dayna find a full squad of Federation shock troops in control…

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

Cast: Paul Darrow (Avon), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Josette Simon (Dayna), Cy Grant (Mellanby), Alan Lake (Chel), Sally Harrison (Lauren), Richard Franklin (Trooper), Michael Melia (Trooper), Steven Pacey (Tarrant)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Battlestar Galactica (Classic Series) Season 2 (Galactica: 1980)

Galactica Discovers Earth

Battlestar Galactica (original)The beleaguered Battlestar arrives at Earth, a full generation after having received the planet’s location. But there are two problems: the Cylons are still in pursuit of Galactica, and somewhat to the crew’s surprise, Earth (in the year 1980 A.D., by its time scale) isn’t even remotely capable of withstanding a Cylon attack. Adama’s grandson Troy (who spent his childhood with the nickname “Boxey”) and Lt. Dillon remain on Earth as their ship departs Earth once more in an attempt to divert the Cylons from the defenseless human race. A plan emerges to give the human race a higher order of technology to defend Earth from the Cylon onslaught, but there is disagreement over how much technology should be given to a race which is just as likely to destroy itself. And one member of the Council of Twelve decides to take matters into his own hands, traveling back in time to arm the people of Earth with advanced weaponry…but he may be handing dangerously sophisticated technology to precisely the wrong players in Earth’s history.

Season 2 Regular Cast: Lorne Greene (Commander Adama), Kent McCord (Captain Troy), Barry Van Dyke (Lt. Dillon), Robyn Douglass (Jamie Hamilton), Patrick Stuart (Dr. Zee), Herbert Jefferson Jr. (Colonel Boomer), Fred Holliday (Brooks)

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Glen A. Larson
directed by Sidney Hayers

Guest Cast: Robbie Rist (Dr. Zee), Richard Lynch (Xavier), Robert Reed (Professor Mortinson), Christopher Stone (Major Stockwell), Sharon Acker (Secretary), Richard Eastham (General Cushing), Albert Paulsen (?), Louis Turenne (?), Michael Strong (?), Pamela Susan Shoop (Ms. Carlyle), Vernon Weddle (First cop), David Moses (Second cop), Brion James (Willy), Mickey Jones (Donzo), Duncan Mackenzie (First pilot), Bruce Douglas (Second pilot), Eddie Firestone (Derelict), Frank Downing (First guard), Don Maxwell (Second guard), Ted Gehring (Sheriff), Curt Lowens (German commander), James R. Parkes (Walt Griffin), Bruce Wright (Aide), Adam Starr (Willy Griffin), Missy Francis (Little girl), Todd Martin (Third German), John Zenda (Cop), Erik Holland (Second German officer), Eric Forst (First German officer), Hank Brandt (Colonel), Duncan Mackenzie (Third guard), Jonathan Williams (Second guard), Paul Brown (Fourth guard), Ray Duke (Newspaper boy), Doug Hale (Air Force Major), Billy Jacoby (Tucker)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 18 Doctor Who

The Leisure Hive

Doctor WhoThe Doctor and Romana, after an unsuccessful attempt at a Brighton vacation, pay a visit to the war-torn planet Argolis. Laid to waste by a war between the native Argolins and the reptilian Foamasi, Argolis is now not much more than a deadly environment whose sole artificial structure – the Leisure Hive – is a holiday resort with an anti-war theme. The Argolins themselves are sterile, and have been sponsoring tachyon experiments conducted by a human named Hardin. Hardin boasts that he can use tachyonics to reverse the aging process of the Argolins, but in truth he’s nowhere close to that goal. The arrival of two Time Lords seems to coincide with a wave of violence, including a man who appears to have been strangled with the Doctor’s scarf. But the presence of two seasoned time travelers also threatens to unravel a plan to sell the defective tachyon technology to the Argolins…and the Doctor and Romana soon become targets themselves. To make matters worse, the brash young son of the Argolins’ leader has plans to lift his people from a dying, pacifist race to conquerors of the galaxy.

Season 18 Regular Cast: Tom Baker (The Doctor), Lalla Ward (Romana), Matthew Waterhouse (Adric), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Janet Fielding (Tegan), John Leeson (voice of K9)

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by David Fisher
directed by Lovett Bickford
music by Peter Howell

Guest Cast: Adrienne Corri (Mena), David Haig (Pangol), Laurence Payne (Morix), John Collin (Brock), Nigel Lambert (Hardin), Martin Fisk (Vargos), David Allister (Stimson), Ian Talbot (Klout), Andrew Lane (Chief Foamasi), Roy Montague (Argolin Guide), Harriet Reynolds (Tannoy voice), Clifford Norgate (Generator voice), David Bulbeck, David Korff, James Muir (Foamasi), Alys Dyer (Baby)

Original Title: The Argolins

Broadcast from August 30 through September 20, 1980

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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1980 Series Cosmos

The Shores Of The Cosmic Ocean

CosmosDr. Carl Sagan introduces the concept of the dandelion-like Ship of the Imagination, as well as the idea of Earth as an island in the sea of space. He then discusses the scientific work of the Greek mathematician Eratosthenes, who came very close to correctly calculating Earth’s circumference, axial tilt, and distance from the sun in approximately 100 B.C., and explores a recreation of the Library of Alexandria, over which Eratosthenes presided. The wealth of knowledge at Alexandria, the loss of the documents in the library, are described, along with Eratosthenes’ effect on the work of centuries of later astronomers, from Aristarchus to Copernicus to Kepler…but the short span of this era of astronomical knowledge is also contrasted with the vast scale of the age of the universe.

Get the complete series on DVDwritten by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan & Steven Soter
directed by Adrian Malone
music not credited

Cast: Carl Sagan (himself), Jaromír Hanzlík (Johannes Kepler)

CosmosNotes: Segments in different locations and in studio all had different directors, so it’s something of a misnomer to credit any one episode of Cosmos to a single director. Other directors credited, and the location shoots they directed, are Rob McCain (Spaceship), Richard J. Wells (Holland / Library of Alexandria / Cosmic Calendar), Tim Weidlinger and Geoffrey Haines-Stiles (Kepler / Egypt), and David F. Oyster (Monterey / Mt. Wilson Observatory).

Among the space artists whose work was used to visualize space travel was Rick Sternbach, who helped design control Cosmospanels and displays for 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and would serve in a wider design capacity in the 1980s and ’90s Star Trek spinoffs, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager. (Sternbach’s work on the first Trek movie and Cosmos overlapped.) He had also participated in pioneering computer animation productions, including JPL’s CGI visualizations of the early Voyager planetary flybys and the movie The Last Starfighter. Sternbach’s sole Emmy Award was the result of his work on Cosmos, rather than any of the Star Trek series.

CosmosIn the strictest sense, none of the series’ music received an on-screen credit, but this episode alone contains excerpts of works by Beethoven, Shostakovich, Hovhaness, Rimsky-Korsakov, and 20th century musicians such as Vangelis and Italian prog rock group Le Orme. In 2000, for Cosmos’ DVD release, additional segments written by Ann Druyan and Steven Soter, and hosted by Druyan, amended each episode with a summary of scientific discoveries made since the 1980 broadcast of the original episodes.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Buck Rogers Season 2

Time Of The Hawk

Buck Rogers In The 25th CenturyBuck, Wilma and Twiki have been reassigned to the deep-space exploration ship Searcher on a mission to search for any colonies that may have been established by humans who escaped Earth around the time of the holocaust. Their first evidence of human colonists, however, is a primitive ship found adrift, its hull shattered and all but one of its crew dead. The lone survivors warns Buck with his last breath that someone called “Hawk” is on a mission to exterminate every human, every human ship, and every human colony he can find. The survivor gives them one tip about where Hawk might be found, and the Searcher changes its course so Buck can follow up on the lead. A neutral planet turns out to be the current lair of Hawk, and Buck asks Wilma to meet him there; against her better judgement, Wilma brings a passenger along: Dr. Goodfellow, the Searcher’s elderly but brilliant chief scientist.

Buck doesn’t find Hawk, but he does find Hawk’s mate, Koori, half-human and half-bird, and bets that if he takes Koori with him, Hawk will follow. Hawk does indeed catch up with Buck, grappling the earthman’s starfighter with the harpoon-like claws of his own ship – but impaling Koori in the process. Both ships land, and Buck helps Hawk take Koori to a healer who lives in a distant cave on the planet, both men postponing their fight until she can be saved. Hawk tells Buck that he and Koori are the last of their kind, hunted to extinction by humans, and that his fight is just. Buck tries to tell Hawk that the actions of human colonists don’t necessarily reflect the current state of humanity on Earth, but Hawk is not swayed – when Koori is either restored to health or laid to rest, Hawk and Buck will fight to the death.

Order the DVDswritten by Norman Hudis
directed by Vincent McEveety
music by Bruce Broughton

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Colonel Wilma Deering), Thom Christopher (Hawk), Jay Garner (Admiral Asimov), Wilfred Hyde-White (Dr. Goodfellow), Felix Silla (Twiki), Jeff David (voice of Crichton), Barbara Luna (Koori), Lance Le Gault (Flagg), David Opatoshu (Llamajuna), Sid Haig (Pratt), Kenneth O’Brien (Captain), Dennis Haysbert (Communication-Probe Officer), Lavelle Roby (Thromis), Michael Fox (High Judge), Andre Harvey (Thordis), J. Christopher O’Connor (Young Lieutenant), Tim O’Keefe (Bailiff), Ken Chandler (Court Clerk), Susan McIver (Simmons)

Notes: Crichton admits, somewhat reluctantly, that he obeys Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, and even more begrudgingly admits that an ancestor of Admiral Asimov wrote those laws. The Crichton prop first appeared early in the first season, but as a large clock instead of a robot. Twiki’s voice was replaced for part of this season as part of the sweeping changes introduced by new executive producer John Mantley, but eventually Mel Blanc was brought back to provide Twiki’s voice.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Into The Labyrinth Season 1

Rothgo

Into The LabyrinthTerry and Helen, brother and sister, seek shelter in a cave when their day of playing outside is ruined by a sudden and violent thunderstorm. They’re not alone, either: an older boy named Phil has also sought refuge in the cave…but all of them hear another voice, somewhere deeper in the cave, asking for help. They find a man trapped under an enormous stone, a piece of rock that by all rights should have crushed him to death. With his instruction, they are amazed that they have the power to lift the stone and free him. He introduces himself as the wizard Rothgo, and he has been trapped in the cave by a sorceress named Belor. He seeks something called the Nidus, a magical item that will allow him to concentrate his power and escape his prison…but since he can’t leave the caves, he must trust his three new young friends to enter the labyrinth, and journey through various times in history to find it. They will find him there at various stages of his long, magically-extended life, and will have to seek his help against Belor. Their journey begins…

Order the DVDswritten by Bob Baker
based on an idea by Bob Baker & Peter Graham Scott
directed by Peter Graham Scott
music by Sidney Sager

Into The LabyrinthCast: Ron Moody (Rothgo), Pamela Salem (Belor), Lisa Turner (Helen), Simon Henderson (Terry), Simon Beal (Phil)

Notes: Executive producer Peter Dromgoole also worked with series co-creator Bob Baker on his previous series, Sky (1975), along with director (and series co-creator) Peter Graham Scott and composer Sidney Sager, was an integral part of a much-loved Into The Labyrinthprevious HTV children’s fantasy series, Children Of The Stones, in 1977. Like Children Of The Stones, Into The Labyrinth successfully jumped the Atlantic to become part of the “Third Eye” strand of children’s programming on nascent cable channel Nickelodeon, but only the first season was shown to American audiences.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Into The Labyrinth Season 2

The Calling

Into The LabyrinthA rotting skull emerges from a sea of mist in the caverns where Rothgo and his young companions once consulted before going on their adventures. The skull is replaced by the visage of Belor, who exclaims “I live!”

Terry and Helen receive a call for help from Rothgo, by way of the crystals he gave them at the end of their previous adventures. With Belor’s return, he needs his champions once more. Phil, Rothgo’s other champion, walks into a stone circle and vanishes, reappearing in Rothgo’s cavern. Rothgo warns Phil that Belor is assembling a force intended to be equal and opposite to the Nidus, called Albedo, and Phil must again wander through the labyrinth into the past, finding a splinter of Rothgo’s former self with whom to ally himself. Helen and Terry follow, finding Phil has been sent back to the time of the Vikings, where Rothgo is fighting a losing battle to keep Belor from harnessing the power of the Albedo.

Order the DVDswritten by Bob Baker
directed by Peter Graham Scott
music by Sidney Sager

Into The LabyrinthCast: Ron Moody (Rothgo), Pamela Salem (Belor), Lisa Turner (Helen), Simon Henderson (Terry), Simon Beal (Phil), Howard Goorney (Loke), David Trevena (Alberick), Stephen Lyons (1st Guard)

Notes: In strict scientific terms, “albedo” refers to a measurement of how much sunlight is reflected by a body such as a planet or moon without being absorbed by an atmosphere or some other phenomenon in the way. High-albedo objects are brighter, and low-albedo objects are dimmer. Stone circles figured prominently in a previous collaboration between director Peter Graham Scott, and HTV executive producer Patrick Dromgoolie, 1977’s Children Of The Stones.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Blake's 7 Season 4

Rescue

Blake's 7The survivors of the Liberator on Terminal begin to make horrible discoveries. First, Avon and Dayna discover that the escape craft Servalan left them was booby trapped as a native animal enters it and it explodes. That simultaneously detonates explosions in the control center underground on Terminal. Vila escapes after heroically rescuing Tarrant, but Cally is killed. The space vessel Scorpio arrives, with the enigmatic Dorian in charge. He takes the crew and Orac away from Terminal just as the planet begins to undergo a massive volcanic outbreak, but Avon takes him prisoner and hijacks the ship. Scorpio, however, is automatically set to take Dorian to his home base, where his gunhand and consort Soolin is waiting. It soon transpires that Dorian has been working on a teleportal and has also devised a near-perfect all-weather handgun. He also repairs Orac and reveals that he is over 200 years old. Dorian plans to sacrifice Avon and the others to a creature that renews Dorian when it is given fresh lives to feed on.

written by Chris Boucher
directed by Mary Ridge
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Paul Darrow (Avon), Michael Keating (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Peter Tuddenham (Orac, Slave), Geoffrey Burridge (Dorian), Glynis Barber (Soolin), Rob Middleton (The Creature), Jan Chappell (voice of Cally)

LogBook entry by Earl Green