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Ace Of Wands Season 3

The Meddlers – Part 3

Ace Of WandsTarot and Mikki notice that Chas hasn’t returned home, and begin looking for him. Along the way, Tarot pays a visit to Mr. Dove, trying to size up the man who is buying the street merchants out of their stall spaces, and trying to figure out why. In the meantime, Chas has found Mr. Dove’s competition, a discovery that puts him in danger until Tarot and Mikki find and free him. The fight to empty the street market centers around a literal buried treasure – but if Tarot is right, it’s not worth any of the trouble.

written by P.J. Hammond
directed by John Russell
music by Andrew Bown

Ace Of WandsCast: Michael Mackenzie (Tarot), Roy Holder (Chas), Petra Markham (Mikki), Michael Standing (Spoon), Barry Linehan (Mockers), Paul Dawkins (Dove), Norma West (Chauffeuse), Stefan Kalipha (Drum), Neil Linden (Accordion Player), and Fred Owl (Ozymandias)

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Ace Of Wands Season 3

The Power Of Atep – Part 1

Ace Of WandsTarot and Mikki both have the same dream, involving a ritual taking place in an Egyptian tomb…and a mummified corpse that suddenly appears to have Tarot’s head. A call from Tarot’s old friend, Mr. Sweet, brings bad news that seems even more menacing in this light: Egyptian artifacts related to the mythical figure Atep, who was said to be steeped in his own powerful magic. Tarot and Mikki each follow their own leads, but Tarot must eventually resume his preparations for his next death defying stunt. Mikki finds herself in a psychic summoning circle whose participants call upon to power of Atep to ensure that Tarot can defy death no more.

written by Victor Pemberton
directed by Nicholas Ferguson
music by Andrew Bown

Cast: Michael Mackenzie (Tarot), Roy Holder (Chas), Petra Ace Of WandsMarkham (Mikki), Sebastian Graham-Jones (John Pentacle), Donald Layne-Smith (Mr. Sweet), Michael Mulcaster (High Priest), Frederick Beauman (Worshipper), Margot Field (Worshipper), Catherine Brandon (Worshipper), and Fred Owl (Ozymandias)

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Ace Of Wands Season 3

The Power Of Atep – Part 2

Ace Of WandsWhen Tarot fails to surface while practicing a stunt involving breaking free of a straitjacket underwater, Chas leaps to his rescue and drags Tarot back to safety. Mikki breaks from her trance-like state in the psychic circle, revealing that her allegiances are to Tarot rather than Atep; when she, Tarot, Chas and Mr. Sweet go to visit the house where the ritual took place, there’s no evidence that anyone was ever there. Worse yet, Mr. Sweet discovers that the obscure book, “The Power of Atep”, has been stolen. All clues seem to point to Egypt, in the Valley of the Pharaohs, and Chas and Mikki convince Tarot that he must go there. John Pentacle, the leader of the sinister psychic ritual, knows that Tarot will go to Egypt as well…and he will be waiting.

written by Victor Pemberton
directed by Nicholas Ferguson
music by Andrew Bown

Cast: Michael Mackenzie (Tarot), Roy Holder (Chas), Petra Ace Of WandsMarkham (Mikki), Sebastian Graham-Jones (John Pentacle), Donald Layne-Smith (Mr. Sweet), Michael Mulcaster (High Priest), Frederick Beauman (Worshipper), Margot Field (Worshipper), Catherine Brandon (Worshipper), Michael Rose (Tramp), and Fred Owl (Ozymandias)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Ace Of Wands Season 3

The Power Of Atep – Part 3

Ace Of WandsTarot begins to wonder if his former partner, a fellow stage magician, has a hand in the disappearance of the Atep’s mummy from the British museum, as the unusual theft has some of the hallmarks of an act that they once performed together. Before they arrive in Egypt, Mr. Sweet arranges for Tarot, Mikki and Chas to meet Fergus, the Egyptologist who opened Atep’s tomb and can lead them back to it. Mikki and Tarot both instantly recognize the tomb from their shared nightmares. When Chas takes a photograph in the tomb, Fergus forbids further pictures, but once the travelers are on their own and Chas develops the one photo he took, Mikki spots the man she knows as John Pentacle – a man Tarot recognizes as his former stage partner. But as Fergus finds out not long afterward, John Pentacle has an uncanny talent for looking and sounding exactly like Tarot…a talent that could put Tarot himself in deadly danger.

written by Victor Pemberton
directed by Nicholas Ferguson
music by Andrew Bown

Ace Of WandsCast: Michael McKenzie (Tarot), Roy Holder (Chas), Petra Markham (Mikki), Sebastian Graham-Jones (John Pentacle), Joe Dunlop (Fergus Wilson), Lynval May (Arab Boy), and Fred Owl (Ozymandias)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Ace Of Wands Season 3

The Power Of Atep – Part 4

Ace Of WandsTrapped in the tomb of Atep with his vengeful former stage partner, Tarot is told that he will have to survive a magical duel with Atep, who was himself a skilled magician serving the Pharaohs of Egypt. Tarot wants no part of it, but he has little choice, and expects very little competition from a dead man, only to be surprised when at least some of the tales of Atep’s magical prowess prove to be true. Mikki and Chas strong-arm Fergus into taking them to Atep’s tomb to help Tarot, only to find that Fergus has been in league with the worshippers of Atep all along. Will Tarot have to endure the increasingly deadly duel with Atep alone?

written by Victor Pemberton
directed by Nicholas Ferguson
music by Andrew Bown

Ace Of WandsCast: Michael McKenzie (Tarot), Roy Holder (Chas), Petra Markham (Mikki), Sebastian Graham-Jones (John Pentacle), Joe Dunlop (Fergus Wilson), and Fred Owl (Ozymandias)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Ace Of Wands Season 3

Peacock Pie – Part 1

Ace Of WandsMikki bumps into an ordinary-looking man after nearly being knocked to the ground by armed security guards at a bank. The man tells her that she needs a holiday, and in her mind Mikki sees a remote seaside location. When she next sees Tarot and Chas, Mikki announces that she needs a holiday, a declaration that surprises them. She also describes, briefly, her encounter with the nondescript man, as well as the mental image she picked up from him, which worries Tarot. When they learn the next day that the very bank Mikki visited has been robbed of £40,000, Tarot becomes more convinced that the man she met is involved, and the three set out to investigate. But Mr. Peacock doesn’t want to be investigated, nor does he want to be bothered – and he can overcome even Tarot’s mind to ensure that he’s left alone.

written by P.J. Hammond
directed by John Russell
music by Andrew Bown

Cast: Michael MacKenzie (Tarot), Roy Holder (Chas), Petra Ace Of WandsMarkham (Mikki), Brian Wilde (Mr. Peacock), Dorothy Frere (Mrs. MacFadyean), Jenny McCracken (young Mrs. MacFadyean), and Fred Owl (Ozymandias)

Notes: Chas mentions that Mikki “just has a holiday in Egypt”, a reference to the events of the previous four-part story, The Power Of Atep. A fixture on British TV since the early 1950s, Brian Wilde (1927-2008) has guest starred on such genre fare as The Avengers, Out Of The Unknown, and an episode of Doomwatch that ultimately went unbroadcast; he’s probably best known for playing Foggy in Last Of The Summer Wine. Peter “P.J.” Hammond counts Ace Of Wandsthe (sadly now lost) 1971 Ace Of Wands three-parter Joker as one of his early screenwriting credits; he would also write the script for the series’ final story before resume a “guest writer” career that included the likes of Z Cars, Couples, The Sweeny, Dixon Of Dock Green, Eastenders, Space Island One and Torchwood; he submitted several story outlines (and even some scripts) for the 23rd season of Doctor Who, all of which were left on the cutting room floor (and, later, in the recording studios of audio drama makers Big Finish Productions) when that season was delayed and reworked from the ground up, resulting in The Trial Of A Time Lord. Hammond may be best known for his own creation, the 1979-82 ITV series Sapphire & Steel.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Search

The Murrow Disappearance

SearchA high-ranking advisor to the Joint Chiefs of Staff goes missing, and PROBE is called in to find him, with a pre-mission briefing from an anonymous source code-named Saratoga. Lockwood is once again on the case, and the narrow trail of clues leads to an exclusive club for high-roller gamblers who happen to have high international security clearances. When Lockwood’s papers, identifying him as a UN official, are sniffed out as being forged documents, his cover is blown – and when the missing man turns up dead, the stakes have never been higher.

written by Leslie Stevens
directed by Russ Mayberry
music by Dominic Frontiere

SearchCast: Hugh O’Brian (Hugh Lockwood), Burgess Meredith (Cameron), Angel Tompkins (Gloria), Capucine (Silvana Tristano), Maurice Evans (Mr. White), David White (Mr. Llewellyn), Ted Hartley (Lee Cardiff), Ginny Golden (Miss Keach), Vernon Weddle (McEgan), Lawrence Cook (Compton), Richard Stahl (Dr. Behrens), Elven Havard (Ambulance Attendant), Loren James (Chauffeur), Melissa MacKay (The Singer), John Raynor (Pale Man), Jay MacIntosh (Adele Murrow)

SearchNotes: With PROBE having gone weekly (and having gone through a name change), Leslie Stevens called upon his old Outer Limits cohort Bob Justman (producer of Star Trek and, later, of the early first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation) to produce Search. Joining Justman on Search was fellow Trek veteran Fred Phillips, the makeup artist who devised Spock’s ears.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Ghost Story / Circle Of Fear

The Dead We Leave Behind

Ghost StoryCountry life suits forest ranger Elliott Brent just fine, but his wife Joanna is another story. The dull routine on which he thrives is boring to her, and she’s begun finding distractions – male ones, almost every time she goes into town. Elliott has bought her a television set to try to curb those tendencies, but she’s made up her mind to leave him. Angered, he lashes out, killing her; after he buries her, he tries to resume his normal life while also covering up what he’s done.

Order the complete serieswritten by Robert Specht
directed by Paul Stanley
music by Billy Goldenberg

Ghost StoryCast: Sebastian Cabot (Winston Essex), Jason Robards (Elliott Brent), Stella Stevens (Joanna Brent), Jack Kelly (Motorist), John McLiam (Titus Paul), Skip Ward (Tommy Harper), Burr Smidt (Jud)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Search

One Of Our Probes Is Missing

SearchWhen a PROBE agent is abducted while trying to crack a counterfeiting ring in the UK, Cameron calls in Nick Bianco, an “Omega Probe” who handles especially hazardous cases. Bianco is brought up to speed on the counterfeiting operation, which has been pumping thousands of $100 bills almost indistinguishable from the real things into world markets, before jetting to London to join forces with an undercover IRS agent. Bianco can barely hide the fact that he’d like to be under her covers, but pleasantries have to wait as a series of escalating encounters with seemingly disconnected people across London make it clear that Bianco is closing in on an operation that threatens to undermine American currency around the globe.

written by Leslie Stevens
directed by Phillip Leacock
music by Dominic Frontiere

SearchCast: Tony Franciosa (Nick Bianco), Burgess Meredith (Cameron), Angel Tompkins (Gloria), Stefanie Powers (Jill Davenport), Allen Garfield (Marty Zakarian), Milton Selzer (Lucas Kaplos), Jacquelyn Hyde (Lena Kaplos), Ford Rainey (Dr. Barnett), Larry Linville (Emery), Henry Capps (Bartender), Lou Peralta (Voit), Harold Oblong (Aaron Kaplos), Ian Abercrombie (Florist), Tony de Costa (Ramos), Byron Chung (Kuroda), Ginny Golden (Keach), Albert Popwell (Griffin), Amy Farrell (Murdock), David Gilliam (Arthur Burrell)

Notes: Another one of the major changes that Search underwent in the transition from TV movie to weekly series was a rare “rotating leading man” arrangement. This not only afforded the series a little bit of flexibility with a complex location shooting schedule, but in more practical show business terms, it meant that the show’s entire future couldn’t be held hostage to the salary demands of a single star. In story Searchterms, it lent some realism to the PROBE operation: a security operation with global reach couldn’t plausibly depend on the services of just one agent. While future Hart To Hart star Stefanie Powers steals the show, Larry Linville can be seen in a bit part; this episode of Search aired just three nights after he made his debut as Major Frank Burns in the first episode of M*A*S*H on rival network CBS.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Ghost Story / Circle Of Fear

The Concrete Captain

Ghost StoryOn their tenth anniversary, Ed & Kate Lucas enjoy a vacation drive, but a wrong turn leads them to a house near the sea, where Kate has the unsettling feeling that someone is calling to her. The old man who lives there, Daniel, tells the Lucases the story of the concrete captain, who was harpooned to death and encased in concrete to end his suffering after a horrific accident involving the rocks just off the coast. Their stop goes from romantic to disturbing as Kate wanders to the edge of the sea one night, again drawn by a distant voice, but she remembers none of this the next day. Ed is growing anxious to leave before anything worse happens. Are he and Kate somehow re-enacting a tragedy that took place a century ago?

Order the complete seriesteleplay by Jimmy Sangster
based upon the story by Elizabeth Walter
directed by Richard Donner
music by Robert Prince

Ghost StoryCast: Sebastian Cabot (Winston Essex), Stuart Whitman (Ed Lucas), Gena Rowlands (Kate Lucas), Walter Burke (Daniel), Eugenia Stewart (Katherine), Glenn Wilder (The Captain), Lloyd Gough (The Doctor)

Notes: This episode is adapted from the short story of the same name by Elizabeth Walter (1927-2006), a British short story writer; another of her stories, “The Spider”, had been adapted a year before for Rod Serling’s Night Gallery.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Search

Short Circuit

SearchThe enigmatic Dr. Carl Mowen, one of the architects of PROBE Control, goes rogue, taking with him an invention called Megatrans, which can shut down an entire national power grid with microwave radiation. Backup PROBE agent C.R. Grover is called into action to assist the agent already on the case, only to discover that the primary agent has died under mysterious circumstances: Grover is now the man on the spot. Mowen drops, via parachute, a Megatrans device which kills all electrical power at an entire airport, and promises that his next target is PROBE Control. Grover races to stop Mowen before he can get close to PROBE’s home base in the World Security Corporation building, but it’s inevitable that the desperate fight to save the lives of everyone in PROBE Control will be fought on home turf.

written by Leslie Stevens
directed by Allen Reisner
music by Dominic Frontiere

SearchCast: Doug McClure (C.R. Grover), Burgess Meredith (Cameron), Marianne Mobley (Lilia Mowen), Jeff Corey (Dr. Carl Mowen), Nate Esformes (Landis), Carol Jean Norman (Car Rental Girl), Read Morgan (Flight Officer), Ed Arnold (News Commentator), Barbara Rucker (Student), Suan Damante (Picnic Girl), Tony de Costa (Ramos), Amy Farrell (Murdock), Ginny Golden (Keach), Albert Popwell (Griffin), Keone Young (Nagada)

Notes: This episode introduces the third of Search’s three recurring agents in the form of Doug McClure (one of the stars of The Virginian); director Allen Reisner once directed McClure in an episode of The Twilight Zone (Mr. Denton On Doomsday). SearchJeff Corey (1914-2002) had already guest starred in Star Trek (The Cloud Minders), The Outer Limits (O.B.I.T.), and Night Gallery, in addition to dozens of movie roles, and would go on to guest on The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, Starman, Babylon 5, and Charmed.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Gatchaman I

Gatchaman vs. Turtle King

Kagaku Ninjatai GatchamanAn enormous mechanical turtle rises from the ocean, attacking a uranium storage facility and stealing the radioactive material stored there. At a meeting of heads of state, Dr. Nambu of the International Science Organization reveals the identity of the culprit: the evil Galactor organization, bent on world domination. But it took the best intelligence agents in the world to discover even that morsel of information, so Nambu has assembled a team of young fighters and scientists to track down Galactor: Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. Each armed with incredible powers and specialized vehicles, these young warriors are all that stand between Galactor and control of the entire Earth. Aboard their powerful aircraft, the GodPhoenix, the team is dispatched to observe the huge machine without interfering, in the hopes that it can be tracked back to Galactor’s base. Team leader Ken intends to stick to Dr. Nambu’s orders, but his hot-headed second-in-command, Joe, is enraged by the huge loss of life that he is forced to helplessly watch during this surveillance mission. Joe intends to destroy the machine – alone if he has to, whether it contravenes his orders or not.

written by Jinzo Toriumi
directed by Hisayuki Toriumi
music by Bob Sakuma

Voice Cast: Katsuji Mori (Ken Washio), Isao Sasaki (Joe Asakura), Kazuko Sugiyama (Jun), Yoku Shioya (Jinpei), Shingo Kanemoto (Ryu), Toru Ohira (Dr. Kozaburo Nambu), Mikio Terashima (Berg Katse), Nobuo Tanaka (Sosai X), Teiji Omiya (Director Anderson)

Note: This synopsis is for the original Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman episode, and appears under its original Japanese premiere date. For the corresponding episode of Battle Of The Planets, click here.

GatchamanNot really a proper “origin” story for Gatchaman, this premiere episode raises some interesting questions. It seems that no one but Nambu is aware of Galactor’s existence until he reveals that information. It’s possible that seemingly random terrorist attacks had been carried out prior to these events, but no one had attributed them to a single group. In any case, given that the Science Ninja Team has practically been raised to fight Galactor, it seems likely that Dr. Nambu has been sitting on this information for quite some time. The plot setup of this and other early episodes owes a lot to Godzilla – with just a dash of James Bond in the mad scheme to steal uranium – but the characters and their relationships would take center stage in later episodes (but not at the expense of the mayhem and destruction which Tatsunoko Studios’ animators were so adept at depicting). Near the episode’s end, during the destruction of the Turtle King, an obviously non-animated, live-action scene of colorful smoke is seen for a few seconds.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Search

Moonrock

SearchThe most recent Apollo mission to the moon has brought back an enormous chunk of diamond found on the lunar surface. The sample of moon rock is so valuable that World Securities Corporation had to be entrusted with transporting it upon its arrival on Earth…and somehow it was misplaced. Fearing the effect on the world’s economy if the huge diamond hits the black market, PROBE Control dispatches Lockwood to find and retrieve the otherworldly treasure…with the full understanding that it represents a fortune for which some men would gladly kill.

written by Leslie Stevens
directed by William Wiard
music by Dominic Frontiere

SearchCast: Hugh O’Brian (Hugh Lockwood), Burgess Meredith (Cameron), Jo Ann Pflug (Dr. Trapnell), , Ann Prentis (Annie Mulligan), Ford Rainey (Dr. Barnett), George Pan (Abbas Mirzah), Leo G. Morrell (Colonel Mirzah), Alizia Gur (Deva Siri), David Mauro (Dimas), William Wintersole (Dr. Van Owen), Joshua Bryant (Air Reservationist), Dee Gardner (Stewardess), Anakorita (Stewardess), Ron Castro (Carlos), Byron Chung (Kuroda), Ginny Golden (Keach), Albert Popwell (Griffin)

SearchNotes: Lockwood sarcastically comments “book me on the next Apollo”…but there was only one Apollo lunar mission remaining (December 1972’s Apollo 17 flight) at the time of this episode’s broadcast. The remaining Apollo flights from 1973 to 1975 ventured no further than low Earth orbit. Lockwood apparently enjoys slow-dancing to an easy-listening version of the Search theme music.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Gatchaman Gatchaman I

The Monstrous Aircraft Carrier Appears

Kagaku Ninjatai GatchamanA space mission returning with orbital surveys of the world’s uranium and other precious minerals is snagged by a Galactor submarine moments after it splashes down in the Pacific. The Science Ninja Team is summoned by Dr. Nambu to battle Galactor’s latest scheme and rescue the two astronauts. Taking the God Phoenix underwater, the team discovers a huge undersea base of operations. Ken goes for a solo swim to infiltrate the Galactor base, discovering that the secret orbital mineral surveys have already been accessed – and the astronaut hostages have already been murdered by the same commander who piloted the Turtle King. Outnumbered and outgunned, Ken is captured by Galactor forces, and his only hope may be that one of his crew has disobeyed his strict orders to remain aboard the God Phoenix.

written by Jinzo Toriumi
directed by Hisayuki Toriumi
music by Bob Sakuma

Voice Cast: Katsuji Mori (Ken Washio), Isao Sasaki (Joe Asakura), Kazuko Sugiyama (Jun), Yoku Shioya (Jinpei), Shingo Kanemoto (Ryu), Toru Ohira (Kozaburo Nambu), Mikio Terashima (Berg Katse), Nobuo Tanaka (Sosai X)

GatchamanNote: With the last of the Apollo moon shots only two months away, this episode’s depictions of space travel circa 1972 is startlingly accurate from a visual standpoint – with the possible exception of the space capsule’s impossibly large interior (perhaps it doubles as a TARDIS). This synopsis is for the original Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman episode, and appears under its original Japanese premiere date. For the corresponding episode of Battle Of The Planets, click here.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Search

Live Men Tell Tales

SearchA PROBE agent trying to track down an international crime boss in Latin America is reported killed in action. Nick Bianco was already under orders to coordinate with his fellow agent, but the fact that he was an old friend makes it personal; Bianco even has to deliver the news to the widow. Backtracking the dead agent’s trail leads to France, where Bianco encounters a beautiful woman who insists that she was the agent’s lover, and that he is still alive and plans to defect from PROBE. But her refusal to answer Bianco’s straight questions about his fellow agent’s whereabouts trouble him, and in no time at all Bianco is being tailed by murderous thugs. Worse yet, having learned that her husband may have had a lover, the missing agent’s wife goes to France to look for him herself, placing her in mortal danger.

written by Irving Pearlberg
directed by Marc Daniels
music by Dominic Frontiere

SearchCast: Tony Franciosa (Nick Bianco), Burgess Meredith (Cameron), Louise Sorel (Magda Reiner), Leslie Charleson (Nancy Kubica), Torin Thatcher (Stonestreet), Martin Koslek (Josip), Tony Matranga (Kubica), Penny Santon (Concierge), Norman Stuart (Dr. Rickman), Bryn Morgan (Vavin), Gino Gottarelli (Garcon), Robert Manuel (Waiter), Felipe Turich (Krishna Singh), Terry Leonard (Montalambert), Ron Castro (Carlos), Byron Chung (Kuroda), Amy Farrell (Murdock), Ginny Golden (Keach), Albert Popwell (Griffin)

LogBook entry by Earl Green