Tag: Series Premiere

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1980s Miniseries V

V – Part I

VTV journalist Mike Donovan and his soundman are risking life and limb to cover a rebel uprising in El Salvador when they stumble into the biggest story of the 20th century – gigantic flying saucers appear around the globe, hovering over major world capitols. The world – and the media – watches and waits nervously over several hours as the spacecraft simply sit there. After a long wait – long enough for Donovan to jet back to New York – the alien ships finally send a signal, requesting a meeting with the Secretary General of the United Nations. Donovan is assigned to cover the meeting, which appears to go well – as does Donovan’s reunion with his old flame, reporter Kristine Walsh. The Visitors, as they call themselves, appear to be human, but they request Earth’s help to overcome an environmental disaster on their home planet. In exchange, they offer medical and technological advances, a deal that’s almost too good to be true. And as eager as the Visitors are to solicit humanity’s help, human scientists are just as eager to find out what makes the aliens tick. Dr. Julie Parrish learns that a colleague of hers has obtained a tissue sample from one of the Visitors, but when that colleague disappears and another is framed for involvement in an anti-Visitor conspiracy, Julie begins to suspect that something else is motivating the Visitors. Scientists around the world are to register their identities and whereabouts with the Visitors, and other scientists, including a colleague of anthropologist Robert Maxwell, simply disappear under mysterious circumstances. Donovan takes it upon himself to sneak aboard one of the Visitors’ ships to shoot video that hasn’t been approved by the media-savvy aliens – and there he discovers their true nature and their true plans for Earth. But when he tries to reveal what he’s discovered to the rest of the world, he becomes a marked man.

Order the DVDwritten by Kenneth Johnson
directed by Kenneth Johnson
music by Joe Harnell

Cast: Marc Singer (Mike Donovan), Faye Grant (Dr. Julie Parrish), Jane Badler (Diana), Michael Durrell (Robert Maxwell), Michael Wright (Elias Taylor), Blair Tefkin (Robin Maxwell), Neva Patterson (Eleanor Dupres), David Packer (Daniel Bernstein), Tommy Peterson (John Brooks), Peter Nelson (Brian), Bonnie Bartlett (Lynn Bernstein), Leonardo Cimino (Abraham Bernstein), Richard Herd (John), Evan Kim (Tony), Richard Lawson (Dr. Benjamin Taylor), George Morfogen (Stanley Bernstein), Andrew Prine (Steven), Hansford Rowe (Arthur Dupres), Jenny Sullivan (Kristine Walsh), Penelope Windust (Kathleen Maxwell), Michael Alldredge (Bill Graham), Camila Ashland (Ruby Engels), Frank Ashmore (Martin), Jason Bernard (Caleb Taylor), Michael Bond (role unknown), Rafael Campos (Sancho Gomez), Diane Civita (Harmony Moore), Viveka Davis (Polly Maxwell), Robert Englund (Willie), Ron Hajak (Denny), Mary-Alan Hokanson (Ruth Barnes), David Hooks (Dr. Metz), Joanna Kerns (Margie Donovan), Jenny Neumann (Barbara), William Russ (Brad), Michael Swan (Bob Briggs), Stephanie Faulkner (Assistant Director), Tom Fuccello (Burke), Wiley Harker (Secretary General of the U.N.), Dick Harwood (Director), Myron Healey (Arch Quinton), Bonnie Johns (role unknown), Eric Johnston (Sean Donovan), Curt Lowens (Dr. Maurice Jankowski), Marin May (Katie Maxwell), Mike Monahan (role unknown), Jennifer Perito (Resistance Member), Clete Roberts (Newscaster), Nathan Roberts (himself), Howard K. Smith (himself), Robert Vandenberg (Rebel Camp Leader), Momo Yashima (role unknown)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Blackadder Season 1

The Foretelling

Blackadder21st August, 1485. King Richard III’s victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field is ruined only by the unfortunate fact that his head was cut off by Edmund, second son of Prince Richard. Once his father is crowned King Richard IV, the newly ennobled Prince Edmund, Duke of Edinburgh, begins his life as “The Black Adder”. But Edmund is haunted by the ghost of the slain King and finds he’s been unknowingly harboring the King’s enemy, Henry Tudor…

Season 1 Regular Cast: Rowan Atkinson (Edmund, Duke of Edinburgh, The Black Adder), Brian Blessed (King Richard IV), Robert East (Harry, Prince of Wales), Tim McInnerny (Percy, Duke of Northumberland), Elspet Gray (The Queen), Tony Robinson (Baldrick), Patrick Allen (Narrator)

Order the DVDswritten by Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson
with additional dialogue by William Shakespeare
directed by Martin Shardlow
music by Howard Goodall

Guest Cast: Peter Cook (Richard III), Peter Benson (Henry VII), Jay Bura (Prince Edward), Tan Bura (Prince Richard), Stephen Tate (Lord Chiswick), Kathleen St. John (Goneril), Barbara Miller (Regan), Gretchen Franklin (Cordelia), Philip Kendall (Painter)

Season 1 Notes: Rowan Atkinson became a household name (especially in England) on the strength of his portrayal of the various Blackadders. He also found success with the title role in the TV series Bean and its spin-offs (a movie and an animated series). Genre work includes the “unofficial” James Bond film Never Say Never Again (1983), Scooby-Doo (2002) and a comedic portrayal of legendary BBC character The Doctor in the 1999 charity special Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death.

Brian Blessed is a veteran of stage and screen, appearing in countless plays, films and television productions. His first standout television appearance was as Emperor Augustus in the BBC series I, Claudius. Genre work includes Space: 1999, Blake’s 7, Doctor Who, Flash Gordon (1980) and Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999).

Robert East has made appearances on several British television shows, including Rumpole of the Bailey, Yes, Prime Minister, ‘Allo ‘Allo! and The Canterbury Tales.

Elspet Gray began her career in the late 1940s and worked regularly for the next 50 years. Key work includes appearances on such shows as Fawlty Towers, Inspector Morse, Poirot and the Richard Curtis-penned film Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994). Genre work has been minimal, but does include the role of Chancellor Thalia in the pivotal Doctor Who story Arc Of Infinity. Gray is one of only three cast members (along with Atkinson and Tim McInnerny) to survive The Black Adder’s transition from pilot to series.

Tim McInnerny was a regular cast member in all Blackadder series except Blackadder The Third (where he made a guest appearance). Other genre appearances include Erik The Viking (1989) and a guest appearance on The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles as Franz Kafka.

Tony Robinson has the distinction of being the only cast member besides Rowan Atkinson to appear in all full Blackadder productions (except the pilot). Other work includes the TV series Maid Marian And Her Merry Men, a comic look at the Robin Hood legend, and Blood and Honey, a narrative retelling of Biblical stories.

Notes: Although this episode clearly establishes the origin of the “Blackadder” name, later sources, notably Blackadder: Back & Forth and the script collection/historical overview “Blackadder: The Whole Damn Dynasty”, indicate the name is much older.

The portrayal here of King Henry VII as a liar who re-wrote history is in line with modern thinking that King Richard III’s reign was unfairly portrayed as a means of justifying the Tudors’ questionable hold on the English throne.

The three old women at the end of The Foretelling are based on the witches from Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”, but are named after the daughters from “King Lear”.

Before his death in 1995, Peter Cook was acknowledged as one of the greats of British comedy, most notably for his longtime collaboration with Dudley Moore on such projects as the 1960s TV series Not Only… But Also… and the 1967 film Bedazzled. His genre work was minimal, but does include the dubious distinction of being a second-string bad guy in Supergirl (1984).

LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey

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Otherworld

Rules Of Attraction

OtherworldHal Sterling’s latest job overseeing hydroelectric power plant construction has brought him, and his reluctant family, to Egypt. They’re so ready to return to California that even a newspaper headline about a once-in-10,000-years alignment of the planets doesn’t excite anyone. As their time abroad is drawing to a close, they take a local up on an offer of a guided tour of the pyramids…only to be abandoned when they don’t fork over his asking fee a second time. They stumble into what seems like an endless drop, and emerge from a lake in unfamiliar surroundings. A chance encounter with a futuristic vehicle piloted by some kind of soldier proves that they’re no longer in Egypt, and possibly not even on Earth. They make their way to an equally futuristic city called Sarlex, and Hal bluffs his way through an indoctrination session for new residents to secure a home for them, at least for now. The Sterlings are assigned to unfamiliar jobs and schools, and their oldest son, Trace, falls for a local girl, only to discover that the locals are all androids. Commander Kroll, the soldier whose vehicle the Sterlings “borrowed” to reach Sarlex, comes to town, determined to find the “dangerous terrorists” who attacked him. Upon learning from their neighbors that Sarlex is innundated with radiation that is harmful to humans, the Sterlings get ready to go on the run, having worn out their welcome in this other world.

written by Roderick Taylor
directed by William A. Graham
music by Sylvester LeVay

OtherworldCast: Sam Groom (Hal Sterling), Gretchen Corbett (June Sterling), Tony O’Dell (Trace Sterling), Jonna Lee (Gina Sterling), Brandon Crane (Smith Sterling), Jonathan Banks (Kroll), Amanda Wyss (Nova), Peter Bromilow (Praetor), Gokul (Ahmed), James Costy (Professor Kroyd), Conrad Bachmann (Litten), Michael Rider (Officer), James Hampton (Fred Roach), Barbara Stuart (Mrs. Roach), Ray Walston (Bureaucrat), Michael Sharrett (Stock Clerk), Wayne Alexander (Lieutenant), Gary Pagett (Monitor), Barbara Beckley (Mr. Mob), Anita Jesse (Miss Wanda), Dan Lewk (Fabrique), Rodger LaRue (Corporal), Janet Rasak (Woman), Robert Vinson (Student), Zachary Baker (Bo)

Notes: Otherworld was scheduled immediately before Airwolf on CBS’ Saturday prime time schedule, meaning that audiences who stuck with the network throughout the night got a double-shot of Sylvester LeVay theme music.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Max Headroom Series 1 (UK)

Episode 1

The Max Headroom ShowMax Headroom introduces himself and states the purpose of his show, rails against corporate sponsorship and takes someone’s take-away Chinese food order before revealing that they’ve dialed the wrong number. Sting drops in to discuss his hatred of golf, shoe color, and his new solo album The Dream Of The Blue Turtles. When the subject of Sting’s politically-charged lyrics is brought up, Max wonders what happens when those lyrics are sung in countries that don’t speak the same language (such as, Max suggests, America). Max tries to steer the conversation back to golf and shoes; a spat over spats ensues.

The Max Headroom Showwritten by Paul Owen & David Hansen and Tim John
directed by Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel

Cast: Matt Frewer (Max Headroom), Sting (himself)

Videos: “Zoolok” (Jean-Michel Jarre), “Destination Zululand” (King Kurt), “Visions Of China” (Japan), “Sensoria” (Cabaret Voltaire), “(If You Love Somebody) Set Them Free” (Sting)

Note: The lead singer of UK band King Kurt used the stage name of “Smeg“. The song “Kinky Boots” is bizarrely intercut with the shoe discussion, and was actually a 1964 single performed by – of all people – Honor Blackman and Patrick Macnee – as a tie-in to The Avengers (presumably because of Blackman’s jackbooted costumes on that series).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Ray Bradbury Theater Season 1

Marionettes, Inc.

Ray Bradbury TheaterJohn Braling, henpecked husband and unambitious computer salesman, is mystified when every computer he turns on suddenly shows him the name of a company – Marionettes, Inc. – and its slogan, “we shadow forth”, followed by a data dump of nearly every piece of Braling’s personal information. When even the computers he tries to sell begin showing this, costing him business, Braling pays Marionettes, Inc. a call. He is greeted by Mr. Fantoccini, who shows Braling a robot duplicate of himself, a perfect replica that can take Braling’s place while he goes off to live the life he really wants to live. The cost? Braling’s life savings – and yet he pays up in full. But when Braling becomes uncomfortable with how friendly his robot doppelganger is becoming with Mrs. Braling, can he simply put his duplicate back in the box and return it for a refund?

Get this season on DVDwritten by Ray Bradbury
directed by Paul Lynch
music by Bruce Ley

Ray Bradbury TheaterCast: James Coco (John Braling), Leslie Nielsen (Fantoccini), Jayne Eastwood (Mrs. Braling), Kenneth Welsh (Crane), Pixie Bigelow (Buyer), Rex Hagon (Buyer), Michael Fletcher (Buyer), Laura Henry (Secretary), Tom Christopher (The Other Braling)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Droids

The White Witch

DroidsDumped overboard with the cargo as their smuggler owner saves his own skin, Artoo and Threepio find themselves on a desert planet where two speeder racers happen to be practicing. The small-time racers, Jord Dusat and Thall Joban, pick up the droids. Dusat is particularly enthusiastic to have found an R2 unit, since they’ll need one to help pilot The White Witch, a speeder they’ve been customizing for the upcoming Boonta Race. But they’re not alone on this planet: a woman named Kea Moll is observing the racers and their new droids from a distance, and Tig Fromm, the heir to an interplanetary crime syndicate, intends to destroy Dusat and Joban before they can stumble across Fromm’s secret base of operations.

written by Peter Sauder
directed by Ken Stephenson
music by Patricia Cullen, David Greene and David W. Shaw
theme song by Stewart Copeland

DroidsVoice Cast: Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Peter MacNeill (Jord Dusat), Rob Cowan (Thall Joban), Lesleh Donaldson (Kea Moll), John Stocker (Vlix)

Notes: The Boonta Race is presumably related to the Boonta Eve pod race seen in Episode I (a movie which wouldn’t be made for another 14 years). With Tig Fromm’s mention of Jabba as a rival crime boss, it’s possible that the unidentified desert world is Tatooine (presumably Threepio wouldn’t recognize it as his memory was ordered wiped at the end of Episode III).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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1980s Season 1 Twilight Zone

Shatterday / A Little Piece And Quiet

The Twilight ZoneShatterday: Peter Jay Novins, a businessman who is disgruntled with his lot in life, accidentally dials his own home phone number from a bar, and is stunned when he hears his own voice answering the phone. The man on the other end claims to be Peter Jay Novins – a man who is content with his lot in life. Stunned to his core, Peter leaves the bar, determined to take steps to starve his alter ego out of his life. But the harder Peter tries to force the “other” Peter away, the more he traps himself.

written by Alan Brennert
based on the short story by Harlan Ellison
directed by Wes Craven
music by Merl Saunders and Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir & Mickey Hart

Twilight ZoneCast: Bruce Willis (Peter), Dan Gilvezan (Bartender), Murukh (Woman at bank), John Carlyle (Clerk), Seth Isler (Alter Ego), Anthony Grumbach (Bellboy)

A Little Peace And Quiet: A harried suburban housewife working in her garden digs up a buried box containing a sundial-like pendant. Later, as her temper reaches a boiling point, she screams “Shut up!” – and time stops. The flow of time is resumed only when she says “start talking,” and only she can move or speak in the interim. Before long, she learns to use this talisman’s supernatural ability to her advantage, but when her world comes crashing down around her, she finds it necessary to stop the clock… and never start it again.

Twilight Zonewritten by James Crocker
directed by Wes Craven
music by Merl Saunders and The Grateful Dead

Cast: Melinda Dillon (Penny), Greg Mullavey (Russell), Virginia Keehne (Susan), Brittany Wilson (Janet), Joshua Harris (Russ Jr.), Judith Barsi (Bertie), Claire Nono (Newscaster), Elma Veronda Jackson (1st Shopper), Pamela Gordon (2nd Shopper), Laura Waterbury (3rd Shopper), Todd Allen (Preppy Man), Isabelle Walker (Preppy Woman)

Notes: Bruce Willis was already hot property at this point early in his career, with Moonlighting having premiered six months earlier; his breakout movie role in Die Hard was only three years away. Melinda Dillon’s other genre credits include the lead female role in 1977’s Close Encounters Of The Third Kind and the 1985 miniseries Space, a dramatized account of the American space program; she was also Ralphie’s mom in A Christmas Story (1983). Greg Mullavey had a regular role in the 1970s soap spoof Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. The marquee above the movie theater at the end of A Little Peace And Quiet name-checks two Cold War classics, Fail Safe and Dr. Strangelove.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Alf Season 1

ALF (Pilot)

ALFAn alien spacecraft crash-lands in a suburban neighborhood, in the yard of one Willie Tanner, who pulls one furry alien creature out of the wreckage. The creature, who he names ALF (for “Alien Life Form”), survived the crash, and gets to know Willie, his wife Kate, and their two children. He’s eager to get to know the Tanners’ cat, Lucky, since the people of Melmac (ALF’s planet) eat cats. In fact, ALF is so friendly, he decides to make an impression on the Tanners’ nosy neighbor, who in turn calls the Army.

Download this episodewritten by Tom Patchett
directed by Tom Patchett
music by Alf Clausen

ALFCast: Max Wright (Willie Tanner), Anne Schedeen (Kate Tanner), Andrea Elson (Lynn Tanner), Benji Gregory (Brian Tanner), Liz Sheridan (Mrs. Ochmonek), John LaMotta (Mr. Ochmonek), Frank McCarthy (Army Officer)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Max Headroom Season 1 (US)

Blipverts

Max HeadroomNetwork 23 TV reporter Edison Carter investigates the unusual death of a man in a low-rent apartment. Police aren’t saying much, and they’re not cooperating with Edison’s investigations – in fact, they sedate the victim’s wife while Edison is interviewing her during a live newscast. Edison’s boss gets a call from Network 23’s board of directors, ordering him to pull the story immediately – and the moment Edison’s camera light goes out when his satellite feed is cut, the police turn on him, and he has to make a desperate escape to the relative safety of the Network 23 helicopter. When he returns to the newsroom, Edison promptly decks his controller, Gorrister, and demands to know why Murray allowd the network’s board to pull the story.

In fact, what neither Edison nor Murray knows is that Edison was dangerously close to exposing the hazardous nature of Network 23’s new method of advertising, blipverts. The high-speed, compressed blipverts, while effectively cramming a few minutes’ worth of advertising messages into the viewer’s brain in nanoseconds, can also cause more sedentary viewers to spontaneously combust. Network 23’s corrupt chairman, Ned Grossberg, could care less about the mounting death toll, and resists board member Ben Cheviot’s insistence that the blipverts should be pulled in the interest of public safety.

Murray assigns a new controller, Theora Jones, to work with Edison. Though the jaded reporter is skeptical, he’s struck by her beauty – and her prolific hacking skills when she finds Network 23’s well-hidden research and development department. The network’s R&D isn’t so much a think tank as it is a single mind, brilliant boy inventor Bryce Lynch. Edison breaks into Bryce’s concealed apartment and finds the only evidence in existence of the deadly nature of blipverts. Before he can transmit that evidence back to the newsroom, however, Edison finds his satellite camera jammed and his network’s own security forces hot on his tail. With Theora’s help, Edison gets to a motorcycle and nearly escapes with what he’s learned, but Bryce springs a trap by remote control, sending Edison’s bike airborne. The last thing Edison sees before he slams into it is a clearance sign reading “Max Headroom, 2.3 meters.”

Edison is taken back to Bryce’s apartment. Grossberg wants Edison questioned about what he knows of the blipverts, but doesn’t want to risk awakening the reporter and allowing him to learn more. Bryce comes up with an alternative: scanning Edison’s synapses, transferring his knowledge and memories into the computer, and asking the resulting computer-generated construct what it knows. What Bryce doesn’t anticipate, however, is that the artificial intelligence created from Edison Carter’s mind – a personality which assumes a name from Edison’s last memory, Max Headroom – is every bit as stubborn and smart as Edison himself. And even if Edison is killed and disposed of, Max has worked his way into Network 23’s electronic infrastructure, and Max remembers everything Edison has seen, including the vital evidence that could topple the network and its chairman.

Season One Regular Cast: Matt Frewer (Edison Carter / Max Headroom), Amanda Pays (Theora Jones), George Coe (Ben Cheviot), Chris Young (Bryce Lynch), Jeffrey Tambor (Murray)

written by Joe Gannon and Steve Roberts
based on the British screenplay by Steve Roberts
directed by Farhad Mann
music by Cory Lerios

Max HeadroomGuest Cast: Jere Burns (Breughel), Rick Ducommon (Mahler), Charles Rocket (Ned Grossberg), Hank Garrett (Ashful), Virginia Kiser (Julia Formby), Lee Wilkof (Pat Zein), Billie Bird (Florence Nightingale), Ken Swofford (Gorrister), Viola Kates Stimpson (?), Urene Olga Lopez (?), Pearl Shear (?), Ricardo Gutierrez (Martinez), Skip O’Brien (?), Matt Roe (?), John Davey (?), Taylor Presnell (?), Heath Jobes (?)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Star Cops TV Series

An Instinct For Murder

Star CopsDetective Nathan Spring is frustrated when a suspicious drowning is declared to be free of foul play by the police department’s computers. In the highly automated future, computer investigation helps to separate cases which need direct police intervention from those that don’t, but despite the computer’s analysis that there was no sign of foul play, Spring pursues the investigation anyway, devoting the manpower of his underbudgeted, understaffed department to it. When he’s called on the carpet by his superior, Spring is advised to take the opportunity to apply for the vacant job of the chief of the Internaitonal Space Police – or the Star Cops, as they’re sometimes less than affectionately known. Spring, who has never even been into space, dismisses the idea instantly…until his supervisor informs him that taking the position is Spring’s only hope for career advancement.

Spring interviews for the position and finds himself en route to a European-staffed space station whose crew has experienced a number of recent fatal accidents with faulty spacesuits. Again, the initial investigation is handled by a computer, which fails to detect any kind of pattern or motivation for foul play. Spring follows his instincts instead, befriending Star Cop David Theroux, who has already joined the crew and investigated the incidents himself, to no avail. But even then, Spring hasn’t ruled Theroux out as a suspect. Even though he has only rookie-level astronaut training, Spring decides to put his own life on the line in an attempt to draw the suspects out into the open – something which goes against every standard Star Cop procedure – only to discover that he’s up against an organized criminal operation targeting someone much bigger than the Star Cops.

written by Chris Boucher
directed by Christopher Baker
music by Justin Hayward & Tony Visconti

Cast: David Calder (Nathan Spring), Erick Ray Evans (David Theroux), Moray Watson (Commander), Keith Varnier (Controller), Gennie Nevinson (Lee Jones), Linda Newton (Pal Kenzy), Andrew Secombe (Brian Lincoln), Frederik de Groot (Hans Diter), Luke Hanson (Lars Hendvorrsen), Katja Kersten (Marie Mueller)

Notes: A very short-lived late ’80s attempt at a more adult science fiction series than Doctor Who (which, at the time, had just entered Sylvester McCoy’s tenure), Star Cops was created by former Doctor Who writer and Blake’s 7 script editor Chris Boucher. The series was only watched by a small number of people, thanks to a late-night BBC2 timeslot, very thin promotional efforts, and constant battles being fought behind the scenes between Boucher and producer Evgeny Gridneff. This episode was originally written as a two-parter, and was quickly condensed into a single hour as Gridneff’s insistence; it also made use of stock footage of underwater astronaut buoyancy training provided by McDonnell-Douglas, voiced over by the show’s cast. Though never credited for it on screen, David Calder also provides the voice of Box, Spring’s portable (and, it must be said in light of Boucher’s Blake’s 7 background, Orac-like) computer, throughout the series.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Werewolf

Werewolf (Pilot)

WerewolfGrad student Eric Cord arrives at his apartment to find his roommate, Ted, in an agitated state – complete with a gun and silver bullets left on a table for Eric. Ted reveals that, while he was working on a fishing boat captained by one Janos Skorzeny, he discovered that Skorzeny was a werewolf and was attacked and bitten by him. Ted now turns into a werewolf, and knows he has been responsible for some recent gruesome attacks on innocent bystanders…and he wants Eric to shoot him with the silver bullets, ending his suffering. A disbelieving Eric doesn’t do it, however, and when Ted transforms, Eric himself is bitten. Only then does he grab the gun and shoot Ted, but the result is that Eric is arrested and charged with murder. Before dying, Ted mentioned that the one way for a werewolf to free himself from the curse is to kill the originator of his werewolf bloodline. Eric skips bail and goes looking for Janos Skorzeny, while a bounty hunter named Alamo Joe Rogan is hired to find Eric himself. Skorzeny escapes, and Eric is now a wanted man – one who is, perhaps, even more dangerous than the authorities pursuing him could possibly imagine.

Werewolfwritten by Frank Lupo
directed by David Hemmings
music by Sylvester LeVay

Cast: John J. York (Eric Cord), Lance LeGault (Alamo Joe), Chuck Connors (Janos Skorzeny), Raphael Sbarge (Ted Nichols), Michelle Johnson (Kelly Nichols), Ethan Phillips (Eddie Armondo), Robert Krantz (Rudy), Stanley Grover (Rudi Armandi), John Quade (Storage Shed Owner), Gail O’Grady (Volkswagen Victim), Linden Ashby (Volkswagen Victim), Toni Attell (Eddie’s Secretary), Andrew Magarian (Mr. Nichols), Lynn Danielson (Funeral Attendee), Harold Ayer (Mr. Manickindam), Geraldine O’Brien (Mrs. Manickindam), Robert Sutton (Motel Guest)

WerewolfNotes: This was the first genre series to be produced for the brand new Fox network. The series pilot episode is written by Werewolf creator Frank Lupo (also creator of The A-Team, Hunter, and Riptide); the werewolf characters were designed by Rick Baker. Though Werewolf was heavily promoted as featuring Chuck Connors as its main villain, Connors demanded more money for future appearances, and as a result only appeared in four further episodes before being written out. His character, Janos Skorzeny, was named after the vampire in the 1972 TV movie The Night Stalker, which was the launching pad for a sequel, The Night Strangler (1973) and the series Kolchak: The Night Stalker.

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Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future

Shattered

Captain PowerIn the future, after a bloody, lengthy war between humans and artificial intelligences, the Earth is a ruined wasteland and the AIs still stalk the land, looking for humans to render harmless by digitizing them. Lord Dredd controls the AIs’ relentless march, while the human resistance is headed up by Captain Jonathan Power and his team.

“Scout” infiltrates one of Lord Dredd’s hideouts with orders to set explosive charges and destroy the base, but the base’s exterior doors close thanks to a preset timer – a security measure that almost results in disaster. Scout is able to escape by the skin of his teeth. Back at the group’s hidden headquarters, Power receives a message from Athena, a childhood friend dating back to before the war, originating from the ruins of San Francisco, and he goes to meet her there. The mission is trouble from the outset: Pilot is knocked out by some sort of sleeping gas while keeping watch on the ship, and Power is ambushed by his old friend, who is now doing Dredd’s bidding. Pilot awakens and summons the rest of the team for backup, but Dredd has dispatched backup of his own in the form of Soaron.

written by Larry DiTillio
directed by Mario Azzopardi
music by Gary Guttman

Captain PowerCast: Tim Dunigan (Captain Jonathan Power), Peter MacNeill (Maj. Matthew “Hawk” Masterson), Sven Thorsen (Lt. Michael “Tank” Ellis), Maurice Dean Wint (Sgt. Robert “Scout” Baker), Jessica Steen (Corporal Jennifer “Pilot” Chase), David Hemblen (Lord Dredd), Ann-Marie MacDonald (Athena), Bruce Gray (Mentor), Deryck Hazel (Soaron), Tedd Dillon (Overmind)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Friday the 13th: The Series Season 1

The Inheritance

Friday The 13th: The SeriesLewis Vendredi, an antiques dealer, has a strange way of doing business: he insists nothing in his store is for sale, and yet the doors stay open and he’s able to pay his bills. He had made a pact with the devil, and when he tries to renege on the deal, the cursed items in his store turn on him and kill him.

Ryan Dallion and Michelle “Mickey” Foster, distant cousins who have never met, end up inheriting their uncle’s store upon his death. Both eager to return to their normal lives, they open the doors for one last sale, getting rid of everything they can. After spending only mere hours in the store, they’re already aware that the antiques there are out of the ordinary. They’re about to close up shop when an older man named Jack Marshak bursts in, claiming to be Uncle Lewis’ former partner. Jack is aware of Lewis’ deal with the devil, and reveals to Mickey and Ryan that every artifact in the store was cursed, imbued with evil powers – and every single item that they or Lewis ever sold must be recovered and put in a vault in the store’s basement.

The search starts with a porcelain doll sold to a family with a troubled little girl. By the time Ryan and Mickey track the family down, the doll has already started to claim the lives of everyone for whom the girl expresses a dislike. When Mickey tries to coax her into giving the doll up, she becomes the next target.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by William Taub
directed by William Fruet
music by Fred Mollin

Cast: John D. LeMay (Ryan Dallion), Wendy Robey (Mickey Foster), Chris Wiggins (Jack Marshak), R.G. Armstrong (Uncle Lewis Vendredi), Sarah Polley (Mary), Friday The 13th: The SeriesLynne Cormack (Mrs. Simms), Michael Fletcher (Mr. Simms), Esther Hockin (Babysitter), Sean Fagan (Boy #1), Gordon Woolvett (Boy #2), Robyn Sheppard (Nurse), Barclay Hope (Lloyd)

Notes: Mere minutes into the episode, see if you can spot future Deepwater Black and Andromeda cast member Gordon Michael Woolvett – credited here without his middle name – as the quieter of two street hoodlums harrassing Mary (he’s the one who doesn’t get attacked by the doll).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 01 Star Trek The Next Generation

Encounter At Farpoint

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 41153.7: The new USS Enterprise, en route to pick up its final crew members and investigate a mysterious space station, is confronted by a godlike entity known as Q who puts Captain Picard, Counselor Troi, Data and security chief Yar on trial for the crimes of all humanity in the past, a challenge Picard grudgingly agrees to meet.

Season 1 Regular Cast: Patrick Stewart (Captain Jean-Luc Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Commander William Riker), LeVar Burton (Lt. Geordi La Forge), Denise Crosby (Lt. Tasha Yar), Michael Dorn (Lt. Worf), Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher), Marina Sirtis (Counselor Deanna Troi), Brent Spiner (Lt. Commander Data), Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher)

Order the DVDswritten by Gene Roddenberry and D.C. Fontana
directed by Corey Allen
music by Dennis McCarthy

Star Trek: The Next GenerationGuest Cast: John de Lancie (Q), Michael Bell (Groppler Zorn), Colm Meaney (Battle Bridge Conn), Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Mandarin Baliff), Timothy Dang (Main Bridge Security), David Erskine (Bandi Shopkeeper), Evelyn Guererro (Young Female Ensign), Chuck Hicks (Military Officer), Jimmy Ortega (Torres), DeForest Kelley (Admiral McCoy)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Red Dwarf Season 01

The End

Red DwarfThe Beginning: It’s an abysmally average day about the Red Dwarf, a mining ship of the Jupiter Mining Corporation. The two lowest-ranking members of Red Dwarf’s crew, second technician Arnold J. Rimmer and third technician David Lister, are – as one gets the impression is common – unable to agree on anything. Lister’s laid-back lifestyle and his refusal to deal with or, for that matter, acknowledge the existence of any problem unless his life depends on it irritates Rimmer, who sees himself as prime officer material despite his chronic inability to pass the ship’s navigation exams. As Rimmer undertakes the nav exam one more time (only to realize that he once again knows nothing about the subject), Lister opens a ventilation duct in their quarters to let his pet cat Frankenstein out. The cat in question later becomes something of a point of contention between Lister and Captain Hollister, who calls Lister to his office and demands custody of the unauthorized and unquarantined animal. When Lister refuses, he is sentenced to make the rest of Red Dwarf’s journey in suspended animation without pay.

He is awakened from his time in stasis by the ship’s computer, Holly, who, moments after Lister rejoins the world of the living, breaks the news to him that the rest of that world has apparently vacated Red Dwarf – an improperly repaired drive plate (improperly repaired, naturally, by Rimmer) released deadly cadmium-2 radiation into the ship’s habitable areas, killing all aboard except Lister, who was sealed safely in stasis, and his cat, who was safely sealed in a cargo bay. Holly then comforts Lister by revealing that this tragedy happened a long time ago – three million years, to be exact. As if that’s not enough, Rimmer has been revived as a hologram, unable to touch anything, but fully capable of getting on Lister’s nerves. And the generations of kittens born to Lister’s cat have evolved into a humanoid form of cat, with the outward appearance of a human being but the vanity and attitude of a tomcat on the make; one such creature, who winds up with the highly original name of Cat, is “adopted” by Lister. Having had enough surprises for one day, Lister orders Holly to set a course to Fiji.

Season 1 Regular Cast: Chris Barrie (Rimmer), Craig Charles (Lister), Danny John-Jules (Cat), Norman Lovett (Holly)

Order the DVDswritten by Rob Grant & Doug Naylor
directed by Ed Bye
music by Howard Goodall

Guest Cast: Robert Bathurst (Todhunter), Paul Bradley (Chen), David Gillespie (Selby), Mac McDonald (Captain Hollister), Robert McCulley (McIntyre), Mark Williams (Petersen), C.P. Grogan (Kochanski)

LogBook entry by Earl Green