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Kolchak The Night Stalker Season 1

Demon In Lace

Night StalkerA college is plagued by a series of mysterious deaths. In each case a man and a woman are discovered together. Each male victim is a healthy young man who has apparently died of fright. The women have apparently been dead for some considerable time, of a variety of causes and apparently at a different original location. No one can explain why the men have died, or the reason for the women’s bodies vanishing and reappearing. Kolchak investigates further and discovers that each of the male students know Professor Spate, who has brought back a rare tablet from a Mesapotomian dig site. The tablet’s background contains legend of similar deaths, and Carl soon deduces that an ancient demon, a succubus, is responsible for the deaths. She possesses the bodies of recently deceased young women, lures men into sex with her, and then reveals her true nature, scaring them to death and feeding on their energies. Her existence is tied to the priceless tablet, which Kolchak must destroy before she claims another victim.

Order the DVDswritten by Stephen Lord & Michael Kozoll
directed by Don Weis
music by Gil Mille

Guest Cast: Andrew Prine (Professor E. Evan Spate), Kristina Holland (Rosalind Winters), Carolyn Jones (Registar), Keenan Wynn (Captain Joe Siska), Jackie Vernon (Coach Toomey), Teddie Blue (The Succubus)

Notes: Keenan Wynn returns as Captain Siska. This episode, with Legacy Of Terror, exists primarily as a compiled TV movie called Demon And The Mummy.

LogBook entry by Steve Crowe

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Season 1 Star Blazers

Homesickness Of Space

Star BlazersD minus 260 days: The Star Force manages to contact Earth, and Captain Avatar receives a status report – things are getting worse, but there is great hope that the Argo will survive its journey to Iscandar and back. But unknown to the rest of the crew, Communications Officer Homer has been misusing his abilities to stay in near-constant contact with his own family – thus putting the Argo at risk of being located with every communication. After learning that his father is near death because of the radiation wracking the human race, Homer loses his nerve and demands that the ship turn around and return to Earth, and when Venture refuses, the homesick communications officer takes matters into his own hands, even if it means abandoning his loyalty to the Star Force.

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

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

Full title: Homesickness Of Space: My Mother’s Tears Are My Tears

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Changes, The

A Pile Of Stones

The ChangesWelcome to Shipton. Nicky doesn’t feel that welcome, “convicted” as a witch by the locals and sentenced to death by stoning at the urging of the fanatical Mr. Gordon, who holds thrall over the entire village. Not all of the locals are taken in by Mr. Gordon’s religious zeal, however: Jonathon and Margaret, a brother and sister whose parents live at the farm where Nicky was discovered, free Nicky from captivity and set a fire to cover their tracks. Jonathon, who was employed at a local shipyard until the madness descended upon the world, has been repairing a boat and offers to help Nicky escape, but not before evidence of his involvement in freeing her has been found.

written by Anna Home
based on the novels by Peter Dickinson
directed by John Prowse
music by Paddy Kingsland

The ChangesCast: Vicky Williams (Nicky), Keith Ashton (Jonathon), David Garfield (Mr. Gordon), Jack Watson (Peter), Zuleika Robson (Margaret), Stella Tanner (Anne), Tony Hughes (Jack)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Kolchak The Night Stalker Season 1

Legacy Of Terror

Night StalkerA number of physically fit individuals (an Air Force pilot, a football player, a Green Beret, a policeman) are turning up dead. Among the similarities is the fact that their hearts have been cut out with a dull knife, they were overcome without a struggle, and that each victim is found on higher and higher flights of stairs. Kolchak arrives at the site of one murder, and witnesses a strange feathered figure making his escape. The feathers are from parrots found in the Southern hemisphere. Carl comes to believe that the murders are being committed by an Aztec cult devoted to resurrecting an ancient mummified warrior over a period of ten 52-year cycles. The mummy claims the hearts of the first four victims, but the fifth must be a willing sacrifice, a “Perfect Victim.” The willing sacrifice is Pepe, a box boy who has been given a year to have anything he wants to before being killed. Kolchak must convince Pepe that he should break his side of the bargain before the ninth cycle is completed.

Order the DVDswritten by Arthur Rowe
directed by Don McDougall
music by Gil Mille

Guest Cast: Erik Estrada (Pepe Torres), Pippa Scott (Tillie Jones), Victor Campos (Professor Jamie Rodriguez), Sorrell Booke (Mr. Eddy), Mickey Gilbert (The Mummy)

Notes: Available compiled with Demon In Lace as Demon And The Mummy. Actor Ramon Bieri plays Captain Webster in this episode, despite having appeared as Captain Baker in Bad Medicine.

LogBook entry by Steve Crowe

Categories
Season 1 Star Blazers

The Day Planet Ballan’s Sun Dropped

Star BlazersD minus 255 days: The first Star Force reconnaisance planes reach Ballan, and Wildstar and Conroy barely get away after finding the Gamilon base. The Argo continues toward Ballan, but its arrival has been anticipated – Generals Lysis and Volgar are still planning strategy, but Volgar is appalled at Lysis’ willingness to sacrifice the Gamilon base on Ballan (and all of its personnel) in a plan to crush the Argo with Ballan’s artificial sun. Wildstar, however, suspects that the Argo is flying into a trap, and indeed the ship sustains severe damage in the battle. Captain Avatar, impressed by Wildstar’s handling of the situation, makes the young officer the Argo’s Deputy Captain.

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

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

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Changes, The

Heartsease

The ChangesJonathon’s involvement in Nicky’s escape leaves his father torn; Mr. Gordon is now prepared to execute both. Mr. Gordon even threatens Margaret at knifepoint until she tells him about the escape plan involving Jonathon’s boat, Heartsease. Peter, Margaret and Jonathon’s father, watches helplessly, and comes under intense pressure from Mr. Gordon to join his hunting party. Margaret, in the meantime, has made her choice, and sets out to help Jonathon and Nicky.

written by Anna Home
based on the novels by Peter Dickinson
directed by John Prowse
music by Paddy Kingsland

The ChangesCast: Vicky Williams (Nicky), Keith Ashton (Jonathon), David Garfield (Mr. Gordon), Jack Watson (Peter), Tony Hughes (Jack), Zuleika Robson (Margaret), Stella Tanner (Anne), Kenneth Gilbert (Innkeeper), Daphne Neville (Villager), Godfrey Jackman (Publican)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 12 Doctor Who

The Sontaran Experiment

Doctor WhoThe Doctor, Harry and Sarah beam down to Earth from the space station to check the transmat receiver that will allow the repopulation of the planet. But they quickly find that they are not alone. A team of human colonists who left Earth long ago have come back to investigate a call that apparently came from there, but unfortunately for them, that call was a forgery transmitted by Sontaran soldier Styre, who is conducting experiments on the human being’s resistance to Sontaran military might as a prelude to an invasion of Earth’s solar system.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Bob Baker & Dave Martin
directed by Rodney Bennett
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Kevin Lindsay (Styre/Marshal), Peter Walshe (Erak), Terry Walsh (Zake), Glyn Jones (Krans), Peter Rutherford (Roth), Donald Douglas (Vural), Brian Ellis (Prisoner)

Broadcast from February 22 through March 1, 1975

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Season 1 Star Blazers

Desperate Challenge From Domeru’s Fleet

Star BlazersD minus 253 days: General Lysis is court-martialed and sentenced to death by a Gamilon military court for the loss of the Ballan base, but is pardoned by Leader Desslok with the provision that his next attempt to destroy the Star Force must succeed. Lysis issues a direct challenge to the Argo for a confrontation in the Rainbow Star Group, which Captain Avatar grudgingly agrees to meet. Lysis musters an enormous fighting force for the decisive battle, including a large scale teleportation system capable of transmitting entire ships across space instantenously. Lysis has also prepared a drill missile specially designed to penetrate the muzzle of the Argo’s wave motion gun and rob the Star Force of its single most effective weapon. As the two forces converge at the Rainbow Star Group, the gradually weakening Avatar hopes that he has chosen his successor wisely.

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

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

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Changes, The

Lightning!

The ChangesWith a diversion from Margaret, Jonathon and Nicky escape, moments after Jonathon sees his father grapple with Mr. Gordon and throw him off a bridge. Jonathon and Nicky’s escape by boat has begun…until a sudden clap of thunder brings the Heartsease to a stop. Jonathon tries to restart the engine, but his efforts are met with not just thunder, but lightning that sets the boat aflame. They jump clear before the boat explodes, and find refuge with a couple who moved out of London months ago. As they exchange information aboutwhat they’ve seen, they realize that whatever has caused the world to change was no accident.

written by Anna Home
based on the novels by Peter Dickinson
directed by John Prowse
music by Paddy Kingsland

The ChangesCast: Vicky Williams (Nicky), Keith Ashton (Jonathon), Zuleika Robson (Margaret), David Garfield (Mr. Gordon), Jack Watson (Peter), Kenneth Gilbert (Innkeeper), Tom Chadbon (Michael), Merelina Kendall (Mary)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 1 Star Blazers

Fight For Honor At The Rainbow Star Group

Star BlazersD minus 253 days: The Cosmo Tiger fighters scout ahead of the Argo to take out the Gamilon advance – but this also takes them away from the Argo, and General Lysis teleports a fleet of bombers directly into the Argo’s immediate area to attack. The great ship is almost destroyed, and Wildstar and the Cosmo Tigers are unable to help in time. Lysis launches his final weapon – the drill missile. The projectile runs true, lodging itself in the Argo’s wave motion gun and burrowing deep into the ship, where it will detonate once it reaches a central location. The Star Force fighter squadron is forced to return to base to refuel, leaving the ship completely defenseless until Sandor and IQ-9 reverse the drill’s direction, firing it back out of the wave motion gun’s tube and destroying the Gamilon fleet – with the exception of Lysis’ command ship. After delivering a final ultimatum to Captain Avatar, Lysis launches his last attack.

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

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

Full title: Decisive Battle: Fight For Honor At The Rainbow Star Group

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Changes, The

The Quarry

The ChangesNicky and Jonathon venture out to the mountains where Michael and Mary claim they’ve seen extraordinary storms brewing. They discover what seems to be an abandoned rock quarry, until they discover a disheveled man inside a large cavern. They greet him and listen to his rants about a “power”, later finding a journal describing an ancient power awakened, and a mention of Merlin. Though Jonathon is skeptical, Nicky is certain that they’re close to the source of what has changed the world, and the two set out to reverse that change.

written by Anna Home
based on the novels by Peter Dickinson
directed by John Prowse
music by Paddy Kingsland

The ChangesCast: Vicky Williams (Nicky), Keith Ashton (Jonathon), Tom Chadbon (Michael), Merelina Kendall (Mary), Oscar Quitak (Mr. Furbelow)

Notes: April 19th is pinned down as the date the madness began. It’s also refreshing to see an episode of a BBC genre series admit, right up front, that it’s filmed in a quarry.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Kolchak The Night Stalker Season 1

The Knightly Murders

Night StalkerA ward boss and a financier are among the individuals who are being killed off with medieval weaponry. There seems no obvious connection, but Kolchak’s investigations take him to the Hydecker Museum, a repository of medieval armor and weapons. The curator is upset with the fact that the Hydecker is being converted into a disco. Later, when speaking with the woman in charge of handling the redecoration, Carl witnesses her being killed by a figure in a suit of black armor that he saw at the museum. When the curator is cleared of the murders, Kolchak suspects that the armor is haunted, and committing the murders. A background check reveals that the armor belonged to the Marquis de Mettancourt, a misogynist who swore with his dying breath that his final resting place would never be the site of gaiety and laughter. The armor has now come to life to fulfill the oath. Kolchak must use the same blessed battle axe that was used to kill de Mettancourt to stop the armor before it kills again.

Order the DVDswritten by Paul Magistretti, Michael Kozoll & David Chase
directed by Vincent McEveety
music by Gil Mille

Guest Cast: John Dehner (Captain Vernon Rausch), Hans Conreid (Mendel Boggs), Leiux Dressler (Minervo Musso), Shug Fisher (Pop Stenvold)

Notes: Among the best episodes, with excellent performances from everyone, particularly John Dehner.

LogBook entry by Steve Crowe

Categories
Classic Season 12 Doctor Who

Genesis of the Daleks

Doctor WhoThe Doctor, Sarah and Harry are waylaid by a secret arm of the Time Lords en route back to space station Nerva. A Time Lord has diverted them to Skaro, the Daleks’ homeworld, on the eve of their creation, and the Doctor is under orders to prevent the creation of the Daleks in order to avoid future in which they could conquer the entire universe. An atomic war between the Kaleds and the Thals has reduced both of Skaro’s superpowers from the nuclear age to the stone age, with the exception of the radiation-deformed Kaled genius Davros, who not only anticipates the mutation of his people that the war will cause, but embraces it as their future. Davros has devised armored life support systems to encase the shriveled mutants that the Kaleds will become after centuries of atomic bombardment – and he christens these devices Daleks. The Doctor, Harry and Sarah stumble into the Kaled city, and find that Davros has fanatical sympathizers as well as horrified opponents among his own people. And when the moment comes, despite the evil and hatred that Davros is preprogramming into his creations, the Doctor finds that there may be a just reason to allow the Daleks to run their destructive course through history.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Terry Nation
directed by David Maloney
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Michael Wisher (Davros), John Scott Martin, Max Faulkner, Keith Ashley, Cy Town (Daleks), Roy Skelton (Dalek voices), Peter Miles (Nyder), Guy Siner (Ravon), Dennis Chinnery (Gharman), Richard Reeves (Kaled Leader), John Franklyn-Robbins (Time Lord), Stephen Yardley (Sevrin), James Garbutt (Ronson), Drew Wood (Tane), Jeremy Chandler (Gerrill), Pat Gorman, Hilary Minster, John Gleeson (Thal soldiers), Andrew Johns (Kravos), Peter Mantle (Kaled guard), Harriet Philpin (Bettan), Max Faulkner (Thal guard), Michael Lynch (Thal politician), Ivor Roberts (Mogren), Tom Georgeson (Kavell)

Broadcast from March 8 through April 12, 1975

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Season 1 Star Blazers

Finally Arrived: Crest Of The Magellanic Cloud’s Wave

Star BlazersD minus 165 days: The Argo reaches the Magellanic Cloud, and is greeted by a communication from Starsha of Iscandar – and a barrage of missiles from Gamilon which render the Argo’s navigational instruments useless. The crew begins to wonder if Starsha’s message was a fake, but this question is resolved by the discovery that Iscandar and Gamilon are a twin planetary system. Captain Avatar, wracked by the final stages of radiation poisoning, is bedridden, leaving Derek Wildstar in command. The Argo is magnetically forced down into Gamilon’s acidic sea, where it is trapped as the Gamilons launch their final attack.

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

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

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Changes, The

The Cavern

The ChangesNicky and Jonathon sneak into the cavern and lock Mr. Furbelow out. They venture deeper, until a strange pulsating noise scares Nicky back out again. She gathers her strength and they go further into the caves until they find a tall, standing stone, from which Nicky hears a muffled voice. Jonathon hears nothing, but Nicky starts speaking to it, pleading the case for humanity and its machines with a primal force that, in seeking to restore balance to the world, has thrown things even further out of balance.

written by Anna Home
based on the novels by Peter Dickinson
The Changesdirected by John Prowse
music by Paddy Kingsland

Cast: Vicky Williams (Nicky), Keith Ashton (Jonathon), Oscar Quitak (Mr. Furbelow)

LogBook entry by Earl Green