Tag: Syndicated

To help dispel the somewhat shady reputation of Curious Goods, Ryan invites friends to the store for a Halloween party. Mickey worries that their visitors might enter the vault of cursed objects, which does indeed happen; a crystal ball is disturbed and begins growing with a green light. Ryan evacuates the partygoers, and Jack tries to help a wayward trick-or-treater get home. A thick fog climbs the stairs from the vault, eventually forming the image of Uncle Lewis, claiming he wants to atone for his sins and be free of his pact with the devil. But it’s another trick: Lewis wants to return from the dead, even if it costs Mickey and Ryan their lives.

written by William Taub
directed by Timothy Bond
music by Fred Mollin

Cast: John D. LeMay (Ryan Dallion), Wendy Robey (Mickey Foster), Chris Wiggins (Jack Marshak), R.G. Armstrong (Uncle Lewis), Adrian Pocock (Greta), Victoria Deslaurier (Evil Greta), David Matheson (Larry), Alan Watt (Howard), Maxwell Moffatt (Old Man), Braun McAsh (B.T.), Tom Melissis (Erik), Ron Vanhart (Hearse Driver)

Notes: Make the second of a handful of guest appearances as Uncle Lewis, R.G. Armstrong (1917-2012) had a long history of genre roles, from the original Twilight Zone to The Time Tunnel, The Invaders, Beauty And The Beast, Quantum Leap, and Millennium. His movie appearances included Predator, Dick Tracy, The Car, and Children Of The Corn, among many, many others.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

A cursed cabinet called the Coffin of Blood had been handed from stage magician to stage magician, allowing them to perform a death-defying stunt safely at no risk to themselves…because a victim is selected, trapped in a second coffin, and is the unfortunate recipient of the cabinet’s deadly steel blades. Inevitably, the current owner of the Coffin of Doom – a cursed relic sold by Lewis Ventredi – meets with an unfortunate accident involving his own trick. But until then, lives are being claimed. Jack, Ryan and Mickey set out to recover the Coffin of Blood before it can kill again, only to find that it has fallen into the hands of yet another unscrupulous magician. When they draw attention to themselves by asking too many questions, the Great Montarro may give them a fatal role to play in the next act.

written by Durnford King
directed by Richard Friedman
music by Fred Mollin

Cast: John D. LeMay (Ryan Dallion), Wendy Robey (Mickey Foster), Chris Wiggins (Jack Marshak), Graeme Campbell (Montarro), Lesleh Donaldson (Lyla), August Schellenberg (Fahteem), Sylvie Garant (Collette), Martin Neufeld (Robert), Murray Westgate (Monte), Jefferson Mappin (Tommy), Ric Sarabia (Tony)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

A seemingly random killing puts Ryan, Mickey and Jack on the trail of a possible cursed object – a scalpel believed to have been used by Jack the Ripper himself. Able to cut through nearly anything, it could be an incredible surgical tool…or a deadly weapon. The track the scalpel down to a Dr. Howard, who is rapidly gaining a reputation as a somewhat aloof, eccentric medical miracle worker. But the artifact hunters aren’t the only ones on his trail: a woman who has been trying to stalk Dr. Howard aims a gun at him in the hospital, but Ryan and Jack’s quick intervention make her only a would-be murderer. She has many clues about Howard’s past victims, but her obsession makes her almost as dangerous as Howard himself. AFter a scuffle with Howard, Jack is critically injured…and the man from whom he was trying to take the scalpel may now be his only hope of survival.

written by Marc Scott Zicree
directed by Richard Friedman
music by Fred Mollin

Cast: John D. LeMay (Ryan Dallion), Wendy Robey (Mickey Foster), Chris Wiggins (Jack Marshak), Cliff Gorman (Dr. Howard), Elva Mai Hoover (Jean Flappen), Doris Petrie (Dr. Price), Michael Copeman (Jim Bronson), Alan Rosenthal (Anaesthetist), Frank Perry (Flower Vendor), Vinetta Strombergs (Duty Nurse), Deborah Kimmett (Obs Room Nurse), Lynn Vogt (Psychiatric Nurse), Hal Eisen (Code Blue Doctor), Wendy Lum (Station Nurse), Peggy Francis (Surgical Nurse), Candace Jennings (Hooker), Susan Spencer (Emergency Nurse)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The widow of a gym manager calls upon Curious Goods to catalog her late husband’s collection of vintage boxing memorabilia. The item that catches Jack’s attention is a pair of boxing gloves belonging to an infamous fighter who accidentally killed his last opponent with a knockout punch in the 1940s…a pair of gloves that had briefly been in the Ventredi collection of cursed artifacts. Jack, Mickey and Ryan, posing as reporters, begin hanging around the gym and talking to the up-and-coming boxers training there, trying to get a fix on whether the cursed gloves are still in use by anyone there. The gloves summon forth the featureless shadow of a fighter, and the wearer can direct the shadow to kill its victim.

written by Joshua Daniel Miller
directed by Timothy Bond
music by Fred Mollin

Cast: John D. LeMay (Ryan Dallion), Wendy Robey (Mickey Foster), Chris Wiggins (Jack Marshak), David Ferry (Tommy Dunn), Jack Duffy (Manny King), Patricia Hamilton (Sadie King), Gerry Quigley (Doorman), Dennis Christensen (Pepper Boliski), Patsy Fern (Referee), Nicholas Pasco (Tony Terrific), Philip Akin (Kid Cornelius)

Notes: Guest star Philip Akin would go on to join Friday The 13th’s syndicated stablemate, War Of The Worlds, in its second season as Norton Drake; he was also a regular in the second season of Highlander: The Series (which starred Akin’s fellow new recruit in the second and final season of War Of The Worlds, Adrian Paul). He went on to play guest roles in Psi Factor: Chronicles Of The Paranormal, Relic Hunter, Odyssey 5, Mutant X, Warehouse 13 and The Expanse, and has provided voices for many animated series, including the 1990s X-Men animated series and Tales From The Cryptkeeper.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

A letter addressed to Uncle Lewis tips Jack off to the possible whereabouts of a cursed antique mulcher. The item is traced to the estate of a wealthy family, where there have been a few disappearances…and the previous owner/operator of the mulcher was eventually sent to a mental institution. Jack and Ryan have to go it alone this time, as Mickey’s life is turned upside-down by the arrival of her suspicious fiancee, who refuses to believer her when she tells him what Curious Goods does. The mulcher’s former owner discovered that, by putting a human being into it, the machine will crank out not mulch, but money, equivalent to the victim’s worth to society. The mulcher’s current owner, having set up shop at the estate, is perfectly positioned to soak up some very literal blood money unless he can be stopped.

written by Robert Hedden
directed by Allan King
music by Fred Mollin

Cast: John D. LeMay (Ryan Dallion), Wendy Robey (Mickey Foster), Chris Wiggins (Jack Marshak), Rico Colantoni (Adrian), Barclay Hope (Lloyd), Jack Mather (Smitty), Ian White (Charles), Kay Tremblay (Amanda), Tom Hauff (Harley O’Conner), Rita Tuckett (Mrs. O’Conner), George Buza (O’Conner’s Neighbor), Domenic Cuzzocrea (Vagrant)

Notes: Guest star Barclay Hope previously played Lloyd in the series’ premiere episode, whose haunted doll also puts in an appearance in the vault of cursed items, two rare callbacks. Barclay Hope also played the recurring character of Col. Pendergast in later seasons of Stargate SG-1, but much earlier in his career, while working in the U.K., he also guest starred in the pivotal Doctor Who story The Tenth Planet, the final adventure for the first Doctor.

LogBook entry by Earl Green