Month: May 1978

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Man From Atlantis Season 1

Siren

Man From AtlantisThe Cetacean is called in on behalf of the Navy when an engineer for a major defense contractor is kidnapped in the open sea; Mark is able to save the man’s daughter, but can’t find him. Mark assumes that the man is now a hostage of offshore pirates with their own submarine, but what he can’t explain is the entrancing singing heard even through the water. He believes it to be a siren, though his human colleagues dismiss this idea as a myth. But how else can the pirates’ ability to convince others to do their bidding be explained?

written by Michael Wagner
directed by Edward Abroms
music by Fred Karlin

Man From AtlantisCast: Patrick Duffy (Mark Harris), Alan Fudge (C.W. Crawford), Neville Brand (Stringer), Laurette Spang (Amanda Trevanian), Michael Strong (Hugh Trevanian), Lisa Richards (Jenny Reynolds), Timothy Scott (Caine), Carol Miyaoka (Mermaid), Richard Laurance Williams (Jomo), J. Victor Lopez (Chuey), Gary Tomlin (Cetacean Crew), Kim Lankford (Cetacean)

Man From AtlantisNotes: Belinda Montgomery is absent from this episode, though the character of Dr. Elizabeth Merrill is said to be attending a Senate hearing. In her place, and making her sole appearance in the series, is Lisa Richards as Jenny Reynolds. When Mark sings his own song to calm the “siren”, he’s actually singing the theme from Man From Atlantis. Writer Michael Wagner went on to write scripts for Hill Street Blues and Star Trek: The Next Generation, as well as creating the short-lived Parker Stevenson series PROBE with famed SF writer Isaac Asimov. Guest star Laurette Spang would go on to a regular part on Battlestar Galactica, in which she played Cassiopeia.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Amazing Spider-Man Season 1

Escort To Danger

Amazing Spider-Man (1970s series)Peter is assigned to cover an international beauty pageant in which Lisa Calderon, the daughter of a Central American president who is steering his country toward democracy, will be competing. But someone is competing with Peter to reach her: the daughter of the Calderon family’s political rival, who intends to kidnap Lisa and hold her hostage to force her father to step down. Spider-Man must save the day, but first, Peter must survive an attempt on his life by the kidnappers.

written by Duke Standefur
directed by Dennis Donnelly
music by Stu Phillips

Amazing Spider-ManCast: Nicholas Hammond (Peter Parker / Spider-Man), Robert F. Simon (J. Jonah Jameson), Chip Fields (Rita Conway), Michael Pataki (Captain Barbera), Barbara Luna (Lisa Alvarez), Harold Sakata (Matsu), Alejandro Rey (President Calderon), Madeleine Stowe (Maria Calderon), Michael Marsellos (Calderon’s Aide), Bob Minor (Klein), Lachelle Price (Miss Teenage USA), Terrence McNally (Reporter #2), Erik Stern (Reporter #1), Marc Baxley (Ted Arthur), Bruce Hayes (Emcee), Michael Santiago (Bodyguard), Selma Archerd (Pageant Director)

Notes: Though The Amazing Spider-Man attracted viewers, the expense of producing the show left CBS nervous about green-lighting a full season for the fall 1978 schedule. A short season of seven episodes – the last of which was movie-length – was ordered instead.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Incredible Hulk Season 1

Life And Death

The Incredible HulkHitchhiking to Oregon, Banner meets a fellow traveler, a homeless pregnant woman named Carrie. He accompanies her to a clinic simply called Matrix, and then proceeds to the nearby hospital where he has an appointment with geneticist Dr. Stan Rhodes. Rhodes may be able to isolate the genetic strands that transform Banner into the Hulk, though Banner naturally hasn’t shared many details of what problems his unique genes cause. Banner is nearby when another patient is brought in for Dr. Rhodes, a woman who’s missing her baby – and says Matrix took it. Banner leaves the hospital to double back and check on Carrie, but it just so happens that Dr. Rhodes is paying a visit to Matrix as well, and now believes he’s part of a sting operation. When Banner returns to the hospital, the injection he receives from Rhodes is not designed to help him, but is a dose of morphine large enough to kill him. His survival instincts kick in and the Hulk takes over…but the amount of morphine administered is enough to leave even the Hulk in a stupor.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by James D. Parriott
directed by Jeffrey Hayden
music by Joe Harnell

The Incredible HulkCast: Bill Bixby (David Bruce Banner), Jack Colvin (Jack McGee), Lou Ferrigno (The Hulk), Julie Adams (Ellen), Andrew Robinson (Dr. Stan Rhodes), Carl Franklin (Crosby), Diane Civita (Carrie), Mitzi Hoag (Chief Nurse), John Warner Williams (Dan), Sarah Rush (Young Woman), Gil Garcia (1st Detective), Judd Laurance (2nd Detective), Takayo (Young Nurse), Lillah McCarthy (Tina), Al Berry (Trucker), Ben Freedman (Man in Elevator)

Notes: This episode carries the unusual disclaimer “all characters, organizations, and events in this story are fictional”, either because the big mutating green guy lumbering around wasn’t enough of a clue, or because the production’s legal research department found a company named Matrix in a line of business adjacent to services for expecting mothers. Carl Franklin, later a director of such big-screen fare as Devil In A Blue Dress and One True The Incredible HulkThing, had been one of the stars of The Fantastic Journey a year earlier on NBC. Andrew J. Robinson was still in the midst of a lengthy string of “creepy” roles stemming from his career-making 1971 big-screen debut as the killer in Dirty Harry; he would later branch out into such roles as Liberace in a 1988 TV movie of the same name, President John F. Kennedy in a 1986 episode of the revived Twilight Zone, and the Cardassian tailor Garak throughout all seven seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Diane Civita was a friend of showrunner Kenneth Johnson, and would appear in many of his later series, including V (as Harmony) and the pilot movie for Johnson’s TV adaptation of Alien Nation.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Incredible Hulk Season 1

Earthquakes Happen

The Incredible HulkGrowing increasingly desperate to rid himself of the Hulk, Banner impersonates a nuclear safety inspector due for a visit at a nearby power plant, where he hopes to expose himself to another burst of radiation to try to cure himself. One of the plant’s staff members suspects something is amiss and double checks, discovering that Banner is an impostor, but before she can sound the alarm, a major earthquake strikes – and the nuclear plant is sitting directly over the fault line. Safety systems lock the facility down, but a runaway reaction is imminent…and unleashing the Hulk in this situation may make it even more dangerous for those trapped in the plant with him. Meanwhile, reporter Jack McGee is on the premises as a routine story about nuclear safety begins to spiral out of control.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Jim Tisdale & Migdia Varela
directed by Harvey Laidman
music by Joe Harnell

The Incredible HulkCast: Bill Bixby (David Bruce Banner), Jack Colvin (Jack McGee), Lou Ferrigno (The Hulk), Sherry Jackson (Dr. Diane Joseph), Peter Brandon (Ted Hammond), Gary Wood (Turner), Kene Holliday (Paul), Lynne Topping (Nancy), Brett Hadley (Ron Harris), Roberta Sherwood (Mrs. Waverly), John Alvin (Dr. Patterson), Arthur Rosenburg (Larry Saenz), Diane Markoff (Janet), Robbyn Stuart (Reporter), Pamela Nelson (Marsha), Michael Wirick (Gate Guard)

Notes: This episode uses extensive footage from Universal Pictures’ 1974 disaster film Earthquake. (Universal’s television division also produced The Incredible Hulk.)

LogBook entry by Earl Green