Categories
Blake's 7 Season 1

Breakdown

Blake's 7On the flight deck of the Liberator, Gan suddenly attacks Jenna, and, after nearly killing the entire rest of the crew, it is discovered in a medical scan that Gan’s limiter is malfunctioning and sending vicious, murderous impulses to his mind. If Gan doesn’t receive treatment in 72 hours, he could die, so Blake has Zen list all the locations where he could receive proper medical attention. Avon points out space station XK-72, a neutral scientific research station that Liberator would have to cross what Zen calls a “forbidden area of space” to reach. Avon overrides Zen and Jenna pilots the ship through that area, finding a black hole-like gravity vortex that the Liberator almost doesn’t survive. Once at XK-72, Gan is treated by Dr. Kayn – but not before Kayn alerts the Federation to Blake’s presence.

written by Terry Nation
directed by Vere Lorrimer
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter Tuddenham (Zen), Julian Glover (Kayn), Ian Thompson (Farren), Christian Roberts (Renor)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Radio Series

Episode 1 (Fit The First)

Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy: Primary PhaseArthur Dent’s having a more troublesome Thursday than usual. For one thing, the local council has decided to demolish his house and several others with as little warning as possible, all to make way for a new bypass. To protest this, Arthur lays down in front of a bulldozer which would, without his presence, destroy his home completely. And while that’s stressful enough, Arthur’s somewhat odd friend Ford Prefect chooses this very moment to come along and insist that Arhur must come to the pub with him and imbibe heavily, and somehow – according to Ford – the end of the world figures into the proceedings. Arthur reluctantly agrees, but regrets it soon afterward when he hears, from the cozy confines of the pub, the destruction of his house. But before Arthur can exact his revenge on the bureaucrats who made this all possible, he becomes one of the only surviving witnesses, from the not-so-cozy confines of a Vogon Constructor ship, to the destruction of the entire Earth – and the slightly bewildered recipient of a babel fish, courtesy of Ford. As it happens, Ford isn’t from Earth at all, and is a roving researcher for an encyclopedic electronic book known as the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The spaceship which Ford has managed to use to escape from Earth, with Arthur in tow, has a crew which isn’t from Earth either…and they’re none too pleased to discover that they have hitchhikers aboard.

Order this CDwritten by Douglas Adams
directed by Alick Hale-Munro
music by Paddy Kingsland

Cast: Peter Jones (The Voice of the Book), Simon Jones (Arthur Dent), Geoffrey McGivern (Ford Prefect), Bill Wallis (Prosser/Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz), Jo Kendall (Lady Cynthia Fitzmelon), David Gooderson (Barman)

Notes: If you can imagine David Gooderson quite a bit more angry and strident, and you happen to be a Doctor Who fan, you might remember him as Davros from the 1979 Doctor Who story Destiny Of The Daleks.

Categories
Incredible Hulk Season 1

Final Round

The Incredible HulkAs he continues his trek on foot, Banner runs afoul of inner city street thugs, but before the power of the Hulk is unleashed, he’s saved by “Rocky”, an aspiring boxer who trains at a nearby gym in exchange for running “errands” for the gym owner. Rocky talks the gym owner into taking Banner on as a physical therapist, but the more time Banner spends at the gym, the more he’s convinced that something illegal is happening there. By tagging along with Rocky, he discovers that the errands Rocky runs are transporting heroin to dealers on the street. When a rival dealer intercepts Rocky and his latest delivery, the owner of the gym arranges for Rocky to take a very public, and very lethal, fall. Only Banner’s rage at the impending fate of his new friend can save him.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Kenneth Johnson
directed by Kenneth Gilbert
music by Joe Harnell

The Incredible HulkCast: Bill Bixby (David Bruce Banner), Jack Colvin (Jack McGee), Lou Ferrigno (The Hulk), Martin Kove (Henry “Rocky” Welsh), Fran Myers (Mary), Al Ruscio (Mr. Sariego), Paul Henry Itkin (Wilt), Ron Trice (Black Mugger), T. Miratti (White Mugger), John Witherspoon (Tom), Tony Brukbaker (Bill Cole), Paul Micale (Man in audience)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Quark

The Good, The Bad And The Ficus

QuarkQuark’s ship stumbles into the gravitational pull of a black hole, and while the ship survives the crushing gravity, the journey has a strange effect: two ships emerge, each with Quark and his crew aboard. The new duplicate of the ship contains a version of the crew whose basest, most aggressive instincts are exposed – and the “evil” Quark immediately goes on a killing spree, destroying two United Galaxies starships with disturbing ease. At space station Perma One, the Supreme Head orders Quark’s immediate destruction. When Quark tries to prevent his double from further destructive behavior, he’s in the fight of his life against someone who knows exactly how he’ll respond. Even when he provides his superiors with proof that there’s another Quark, there’s a good chance that they’ll just see it as an opportunity to kill him twice.

written by Stuart Gillard
directed by Hy Averback
music by Perry Botkin, Jr.

Cast: Richard Benjamin (Adam Quark), Timothy Thomerson (Gene/Jean), Richard Kelton (Ficus), Tricia Barnstable (Betty), Cyb Barnstable (Betty), Conrad Janis (Otto Palindrome), Alan Caillou (The Head), Geoffrey The Good, The Bad and The FicusLewis (Admiral Flint), Sean Fallon Walsh (Commander Kroll), Lee Travis (Commander Stark)

Notes: The Good, The Bad And The Ficus is a riff on every “evil twin” installment of the original Star Trek, with special attention lovingly lavished upon Mirror, Mirror, with a side order of Arena once the two Quarks beam down to the asteroid for their showdown. It would also seem that Quark has made an old war story out of the events of the previous episode.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Blake's 7 Season 1

Bounty

Blake's 7Blake and Cally contact Sarkoff, former president of planet Lindor, who has been relegated to a Federation world where, after losing a fixed election on Lindor, he has been kept prisoner under light security. His daughter Tyce is also there with him, disgusted with her father’s broken spirit. Blake talks them in returning to Lindor, but on returning on the Liberator, which had broken orbit to investigate a derelict space vessel, Blake and the others find a band of space pirates in control – and Jenna has apparently switched sides to aid Tarvin, the pirates’ leader.

written by Terry Nation
directed by Pennant Roberts
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter Tuddenham (Zen), T.P. McKenna (Sarkoff), Carinthia West (Tyce), Marc Zuber (Tarvin), Mark York (Cheney), Derrick Branche (Amagon Guard)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Radio Series

Episode 2 (Fit The Second)

Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy: Primary PhaseAgainst all odds, Ford and Arthur have completely and utterly failed to find a way to prevent being thrown out of an airlock by the captain of the Vogon ship. And against all probability, Ford and Arthur are picked up before they die, rescued by a sleek new starship which is powered by the revolutionary (and inexplicable) Infinite Improbability Drive. Ford is elated to find that the ship in question, the Heart of Gold, is under the command of his two-headed, three-armed, usually-inebriated semi-cousin Zaphod Beeblebrox. And Arthur is stunned to find out that he’s not the only surviving member of the human race; a girl named Trillian (who Arthur knew as Tricia McMillan) is traveling with Zaphod, who convinced her at a party to leave Earth and join him several months ago – even though Arthur was attempting to get friendly with her at the same party. Ford and Arthur also meet Marvin, the ship’s permanently-depressed robot. There’s only one problem with the Heart of Gold (in addition to the fact that Zaphod barely knows how to fly it): Zaphod stole it, and now every cop in the galaxy will be hot on his trail.

Order this CDwritten by Douglas Adams
directed by Alick Hale-Munro
music by Paddy Kingsland

Cast: Peter Jones (The Voice of the Book), Simon Jones (Arthur Dent), Geoffrey McGivern (Ford Prefect), Stephen Moore (Marvin), Mark Wing-Davey (Zaphod Beeblebrox), Susan Sheridan (Trillian), Bill Wallis (Vogon Captain), David Tate (Vogon Guard / Eddie)

Notes: The original radio broadcast attributed the worst poetry in the universe to Paul Neil Milne Jonhston, an actual acquaintance of Douglas Adams who – perhaps understandably – objected to this dubious tribute, especially when it came in the form of a radio program broadcast across Britain. In later LP releases, the novels, the television series, and even the version of the radio shows syndicated to America, this name was changed to “Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings.”

Categories
Incredible Hulk Season 1

The Beast Within

The Incredible HulkDavid finds work in a zoo where Dr. Claudia Baxter is conducting research into quelling primal rage in animals. Though he’s employed as little more than a glorified janitor, David asks Dr. Baxter in-depth questions about her work, and is surprised to hear her admit that she’s trying to continue the work of the late Dr. David Banner. But her already-controversial research has hit a snag – a string of unusual deaths among animals at the zoo – and David is suspicious of Baxter’s boss, Dr. Malone, and his aide, Carl. He knows he’s getting close to the truth of what’s happening when Carl locks him into a cage with a gorilla, who Carl then injects with a chemical designed to bring its rage to the boiling point…and that’s when the Hulk appears.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Karen Harris & Jill Sherman
directed by Kenneth Gilbert
music by Joe Harnell

The Incredible HulkCast: Bill Bixby (David Bruce Banner), Jack Colvin (Jack McGee), Lou Ferrigno (The Hulk), Caroline McWilliams (Dr. Claudia Baxter), Richard Kelton (Carl), Dabbs Greer (Dr. Malone), Charles Lampkin (Joe), Jean Durand (Jagger), Norman Rice (1st Zoo Security Guard, Joe DeNicola (2nd Zoo Security Guard), Billie Beach (Rita)

The Incredible HulkNotes: Richard Kelton (1943-1978) was one of the cast members of the short-lived NBC sci-fi spoof Quark, which was airing at the same time as The Incredible Hulk – in fact, this episode aired opposite an episode of Quark on the same night. He died later in 1978.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Quark

Goodbye Polumbus

QuarkQuark returns to Perma One for his latest assignment, and after the excitement of chasing down his evil twin and “negotiating” with a beautiful female ruler, his luck runs out and he’s assigned another suicide mission. Quark and his crew are to visit the planet Polumbus – from which no United Galaxies ship has ever returned – and find out why no one ever leaves the planet. (Quark’s theory: it’s probably really crowded down there by now.) Once he arrives on Polumbus, Quark sees the woman of his dreams, Ficus sees the woman of his dreams (an equation-spouting math professor), and the Betties see the man of their dreams (a Quark for each of them). When Gene beams down, things get even stranger… and suddenly Quark’s crew is trapped, just like all the others before them.

written by Bruce Kane
directed by Hy Averback
music by Perry Botkin, Jr.

Cast: Richard Benjamin (Adam Quark), Timothy Thomerson (Gene/Jean), Richard Kelton (Ficus), Tricia Barnstable (Betty), Cyb Barnstable (Betty), Conrad Janis (Otto Palindrome), Alan Caillou (The Head), Denny Miller (Zoltar), Mindi Miller (Diane), Richard Devon (Captain), Maggie Sullivan (Teacher), Bobby Porter (Andy)

Goodbye PolumbusNotes: For the first time, Gene/Jean is identified as the chief engineer of Quark’s ship. Goodbye Polumbus is a spoof of the original Star Trek episode Shore Leave, and the Head even assigns one of Quark’s fellow captains to “a five-day mission to explore strange new worlds and seek out new civilizations” on “the final frontier” – one of the most blatant acknowledgements of Trek in the series, but also an indication that Star Trek had become a bit of a cliche via its endless syndicated reruns within a decade of leaving the airwaves.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Blake's 7 Season 1

Deliverance

Blake's 7The Liberator spots a spaceship as it crashes on Cephlon. Avon, Jenna, Gan and Vila teleport down to the planet to search for survivors from two life capsules that eject from the ship at the last moment. They find one dead and the other badly injured. The crew teleports back up with the survivor but do not realize that Jenna has been attacked by natives of the planet. While Blake and Cally try to help Ensor, the shipwreck survivor who says to tell his father that the Federation will pay a hundred million credits for something called Orac, the others return to Cephlon to rescue Jenna. An underground chamber conveniently opens for them as they barely escape from the natives, and there they meet Meegat, a lone civilized woman guarding a rocket loaded with the gene banks of the last civilization on Cephlon who regards Avon as a god. On the Liberator, Ensor takes Cally hostage and demands that the ship be set on a course for Aristo, his father’s home world. Jenna is rescued by Avon, Gan and Vila, and they manage to reactivate the launch system and send the future progeny of Cephlon on its way. Ensor dies from sheer exhaustion and Blake and Cally set the ship back to Cephlon to pick up the others. Blake is very much intrigued by Ensor’s information: a fortune for something called Orac and a box of power cells for his father’s artifical heart. The Liberator is soon back on course for Aristo…

written by Terry Nation
directed by Michael E. Briant
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter Tuddenham (Zen), Stephen Grief (Travis), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Tony Caunter (Ensor), James Lister (Maryatt), Suzan Farmer (Meegat)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Radio Series

Episode 3 (Fit The Third)

Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy: Primary PhaseThe Heart of Gold enters orbit around Magrathea, a near-mythical dead planet once famed for its singular industry: the construction of custom-designed planets. When automatic defense systems warn the ship off and Zaphod insists on approaching for a landing, a vicious attack ensues. Arthur suggests firing the Infinite Improbability Drive at the last minute, which not only whisks the ship away to safety, but also does away with the nuclear missiles from Magrathea. The Heart of Gold lands, and Zaphod, Ford and Trillian go off to explore as Arthur and Marvin guard the ship (despite Zaphod’s assurances that the entire planet is unpopulated). Arthur soon finds out that the planet is populated by at least one man, Slartibartfast. The others soon find out that they haven’t seen the last of the automatic defense systems, and Arthur subsequently discovers that he hasn’t seen the last of his home planet.

Order this CDwritten by Douglas Adams
directed by Alick Hale-Munro
music by Paddy Kingsland

Cast: Peter Jones (The Voice of the Book), Richard Vernon (Slartibartfast), Simon Jones (Arthur Dent), Geoffrey McGivern (Ford Prefect), Stephen Moore (Marvin), Mark Wing-Davey (Zaphod Beeblebrox), Susan Sheridan (Trillian), David Tate (Eddie)

Categories
Quark

All The Emperor’s Quasi-Norms Part 1

QuarkQuark and his crew are assigned to trash pickup duty on a world whose garbage hasn’t been collected in years, but they’re intercepted by a Gorgon pirate ship commanded by the infamous Gorgon pirate Zorgon. He believes Quark is an undercover agent trying to retrieve a weapon to be used against the Gorgons, and demands to know its location on pain of death. To save his own skin and the lives of his crew, Quark names a random location on a remote asteroid, buying enough time to hatch an escape plan. But every part of that escape plan falls apart badly, and then Quark discovers something even worse: apparently he has led the Gorgons to something that will enable them to take over the universe.

written by Jonathan Kaufer
directed by Bruce Bilson
music by Perry Botkin, Jr.

Cast: Richard Benjamin (Adam Quark), Timothy Thomerson (Gene/Jean), Richard Kelton (Ficus), Tricia Barnstable (Betty), Cyb Barnstable (Betty), Conrad Janis (Otto Palindrome), Alan Caillou (The Head), Joan van Ark (Princess Libido), Ross Martin (Emperor Zorgon), Bobby Porter (Andy), Ned York (Bar-Tel), Jerrold Zimon (Professor Dinsmore), Susan Backline (Guard #1), Keith Atkinson (Guard #2)

QuarkNotes: In what may be the boldest Trek reference in the entire show, Otto Palindrome mentions the Romulans… and then states that they have noses on the back of their heads. The crushing walls of the Gorgons’ prison chamber is obviously a Star Wars riff. Even James Bond gets spoofed when Ficus is stretched out on a rack waiting to be bisected by a laser beam, a la Goldfinger.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Incredible Hulk Season 1

Of Guilt, Models And Murder

The Incredible HulkDavid awakens, dazed, from a recent transformation into the Hulk, and unable to remember what happened. The news media is there to fill him in: the Hulk is accused of the murder of a model, and a manhunt has begun for the huge creature. David manages to get a job as a valet to James Joslin, who was present at the scene of the Hulk’s attack, and discovers another eyewitness to the event, model Sheila Cantrell. He tries to piece together his missing memories to find out what really happened, and what the Hulk really did…only to discover that the Hulk was the only one present who wasn’t directly involve in the murder.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by James D. Parriott
directed by Larry Stewart
music by Joe Harnell

The Incredible HulkCast: Bill Bixby (David Bruce Banner), Jack Colvin (Jack McGee), Lou Ferrigno (The Hulk), Jeremy Brett (James Joslin), Loni Anderson (Sheila Cantrell), Jane Alice Brandon (Girl), Ben Gerard (Sanderson), Deanna Lund (Terri Ann), Doug Hale (TV Reporter), Rick Goldman (Elkin), Nancy Steen (Ellen), Bill Baldwin (Jackson), Vince Howard (Security Guard), Art Kimbro (1st Policeman), Ross Durfee (Collins)

The Incredible HulkNotes: The Incredible Hulk’s casting department managed to land Loni Anderson mere months before the premiere of WKRP In Cincinnati made her a household name. Jeremy Brett (1933–1995) had already made numerous TV and movie appearances by this point, though his signature role, that of Sherlock Holmes, was a few years ahead of him still. Deanna Lund had been one of the stars of Irwin Allen’s Land Of The Giants.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Blake's 7 Season 1

Orac

Blake's 7Gan, Avon, Vila and Jenna have fallen ill with potentially lethal radiation sickness after spending too much time on the irradiated surface of Cephlon. Their only hope is that the mysterious Ensor that Blake plans to contact on Aristo has a supply of drugs to cure the illness. On the surface, however, Travis and Servalan have arrived early and make their way slowly and clumsily to Ensor’s underground installation. Blake and Cally teleport to the surface as well and are accosted by a flying object that gives them precise instructions to reach a hidden lift leading directly to Ensor’s laboratory. They find old Ensor dying slowly – he needs the power cells his son was trying to deliver implanted soon. Blake and Cally take Ensor and his invention, Orac, through the tunnels to reach the surface, but a skirmish with Travis slows progress and Ensor dies of shock en route to the surface. Avon and Vila arrive to save Blake and Cally from Travis, and teleport back to the Liberator while Servalan vows to Travis that his career as Space Commander is finished. On the Liberator, Orac is activated and the crew discovers that Orac is actually an incredibly advanced computer capable of making short-term predictions. When asked to do so, Orac projects an image of the Liberator being destroyed in a huge fireball onto the screen…

written by Terry Nation
directed by Vere Lorrimer
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter Tuddenham (Zen), Derek Farr (Ensor / Orac), Stephen Grief (Travis), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), James Muir (Phibian), Paul Kidd (Phibian)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Radio Series

Episode 4 (Fit The Fourth)

Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy: Primary PhaseSlartibartfast takes Arthur into the hyperspatial construction grounds of Magrathea, where the planet-building engineers are hard at work on a special commission – the new Earth, a replacement for the old one which, as it turns out, was demolished five minutes too soon. The Earth was actually bankrolled by the beings humans know as mice, which are actually incredibly advanced pan-dimensional beings who built the Earth as an organic computer. The Earth’s program was to calculate the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything. (The answer, already known, is simply 42.) But with the Vogons having destroyed millions of years’ work, the mice now hope to extract the question directly from Arthur’s brain. Meanwhile, intergalactic police arrive, hoping to extract Zaphod and the Heart of Gold from Magrathea. And now all the travelers want is to extract themselves in one piece.

Order this CDwritten by Douglas Adams
directed by Alick Hale-Munro
music by Paddy Kingsland

Cast: Peter Jones (The Voice of the Book), Richard Vernon (Slartibartfast), Simon Jones (Arthur Dent), Geoffrey McGivern (Ford Prefect / Deep Thought), Mark Wing-Davey (Zaphod Beeblebrox), Susan Sheridan (Trillian), Jonathan Adams (Majikthise / Cheerleader), Ray Hassett (First computer programmer / Bang Bang / PA voice), Jeremy Browne (Second computer programmer), James Broadbent (Vroomfondel / Shooty), Peter Hawkins (Frankie mouse), David Tate (Benjy mouse)

Categories
Quark

All The Emperor’s Quasi-Norms Part 2

QuarkZorgon thanks Quark for his help in finding “it” by having Quark and the Betties beamed down to the asteroid to become the next meal of a lizigoth. Fortunately, Zorgon hasn’t taken into account the asteroid’s Forest People, whose baron frees Quark and his crew and leads them to “it.” The item sought by Zorgon turns out to be a small crystal said to make its wearer invincible, and as Quark’s arrival has been foretold by prophecy, he becomes the bearer of “it” and returns to Zorgon’s ship to free Ficus and stop Zorgon’s quest for limitless power. But only when he finds himself staring down his mortal enemy does Quark realize that “it” isn’t all “it’s” cracked up to be.

written by Jonathan Kaufer
directed by Bruce Bilson
music by Perry Botkin, Jr.

Cast: Richard Benjamin (Adam Quark), Timothy Thomerson (Gene/Jean), Richard Kelton (Ficus), Tricia Barnstable (Betty), Cyb Barnstable (Betty), Conrad Janis (Otto Palindrome), Alan Caillou (The Head), Bruce M. Fischer (The Baron), Joan van Ark (Princess Libido), Ross Martin (Emperor Zorgon), Bobby Porter (Andy), Ned York (Bar-Tel), Jerrold Zimon (Professor Dinsmore), Gary Cashdollar (Guard #3), Barry Hostetler (Guard #4), Ron Burke (Guard #5)

QuarkNotes: The Baron of the Forest People is an uncanny prediction of Brian Blessed’s character in the Flash Gordon movie, which was still two years away from premiering. Quark says he and Ficus have served together for years, even though Ficus made his first appearance after the pilot. Arguably the weakest episode of the show’s short run, this installment is essentially a repeat of May The Source Be With You in a different setting.

LogBook entry by Earl Green