Year: 1979

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Season 2 Star Blazers

Fierce Attack: The Telezart Landing Operation!

Star BlazersThe Argo arrives at the planet Telezart, and Sandor’s scans show it to be a hollow world. But rather than a warm welcome from Trelaina, the Argo is targeted by Telezart’s automatic missile defense systems. Wildstar dispatches Sgt. Knox and the Space Marines to do what they do best – make short work of the planetary defenses and clear the way for the Argo. What the Marines find is a desolate world, with evidence of an advanced civilization reduced to rubble. Desslock returns, as ordered, for a meeting with Prince Zordar – and the Gamilon leader is furious with what he perceives as Zordar’s interference with his most recent (and nearly successful) attempt to wipe out the Argo. What neither of them know is that Zordar’s daughter, Princess Invidia, is sowing the seeds of dissent between them in her own grab for power.

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

Season 2 Voice Cast: Kenneth Meseroll (Derek Wildstar), Tom Tweedy (Mark Venture), Amy Howard (Nova), Eddie Allen (Leader Desslok), Chris Latta (Sgt. Knox), Lydia Leeds (Trelaina), Chris Latta (General Dire), Chris Latta (Captain Gideon), other actors unknown

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Alien Worlds Season 1

The Sunstealers – Part 1

Alien WorldsAboard the Starlab space station orbiting Earth, research director Maura Cassidy finds herself in the midst of extraordinary events when all of the station’s instruments indicate that the sun is collapsing. The entire inner solar system fleet of the International Space Authority depends on solar energy, as does Earth itself, and preparations are made to send an expedition to take closer measuresments and perhaps find out the cause. Captain Graydon leads the mission, though Cassidy is less than thrilled to learn that his co-pilot will be Captain Griff, a man who she holds responsible for her father’s death on a past expedition. Though they are warned of the possibility by an excitable scientist named Tim, Graydon and Griff are still stunned to find a new planetoid inside the orbit of Venus, occupied by the insectoid Marcabs, who care nothing that their rapid “mining” of the sun will spell doom for humanity.

written by Mike Hodel and Lee Hansen
directed by Lee Hansen
music by Jim Kirk

Cast: Roger Dressler (Narrator), Linda Gary (Maura Cassidy), Bruce Phillip Miller (Captain Jon Graydon), Corey Burton (Jerry Lyden), Chuck Olsen (Captain Buddy Griff), Jeff Allen (Tim), Stu Jacobs (Zarr Khonar), Tom Rounds (Gargon)

Notes: Starlab’s formal name is the Arthur C. Clarke Astronomical Observatory. Alien Worlds was syndicated to radio stations across America (and elsewhere in the English-speaking world) by Watermark, a radio syndication company that had already made its fame as the originators of America’s Top 40 with Casey Kasem. (Kasem himself would guest star in a later episode of Alien Worlds.) Though not as universally popular as Kasem’s pop music countdown show, Alien Worlds was popular enough to merit two full seasons; production was brought to a halt and the series was cancelled after four installments of a third season had been produced. Corey Burton’s voice acting career continues to this day, and he can be heard in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and dozens of video games.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Blake's 7 Season 2

Redemption

Blake's 7The crew of the Liberator have begun extensively checking the ship for any defects that could result in Orac’s prediction, but no one can find a cause – except for Avon. In the recording of Orac’s prediction, a starfield unique anywhere in the universe is seen behind the Liberator just prior to her predicted destruction, and according to Avon, all the crew has to do is make sure the ship never goes near that point. But before any more can be said, two ships similar to the Liberator in design approach from out of nowhere at unimaginable speed and attack – carefully knocking out specific systems, such as weapons and flight control. When Blake and Avon try overriding the computers, the ship fights back, lashing out with live power and locking Avon in a room where he has just set an explosive charge. Zen even goes offline, and the ship is boarded. Gan is attacked and disappears, while Vila and Cally are the next to go. Blake orders Orac to influence the computers and bring them back online, and the flight deck is suddenly taken over by aliens who pilot the Liberator inside a gigantic, world-sized space station, again similar in design. It becomes clear that the minions of the computer-controlled entity called “The System” were the original builders and owners of the Liberator and want her back. Blake notices, during an interrogation by System custodians, that the System’s computers are gradually having difficulty operating, and correctly guesses that Orac is responsible. Avon, while waiting in a prison cell for execution, looks out a porthole and sees the very star configuration that he noticed behind Liberator in Orac’s prediction.

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), Sheila Ruskin (Alta One), Harriet Philpin (Alta Two), Roy Evans (Slave)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 2 Star Blazers

Counterstrike: The Discovery Of Teresa!

Star BlazersOn Telezart, Comet Empire robot tanks are giving Knox and the Space Marines heavy resistance. Wildstar brings a heavy missile launcher to the surface from the Argo, but Knox and his men must mount a near-suicidal frontal attack on the tanks to give him time to set the launcher up. When the weapon is fired, the Comet Empire tanks are quickly dealt with, but when Wildstar, Venture and the others try to reach Trelaina on foot, they find that the Empire isn’t about to give up so easily. Meanwhile, Desslock realizes that Princess Invidia is setting him up…but trying to convince her father of that fact will be no easy matter.

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

Season 2 Voice Cast: Kenneth Meseroll (Derek Wildstar), Tom Tweedy (Mark Venture), Amy Howard (Nova), Eddie Allen (Leader Desslok), Chris Latta (Sgt. Knox), Lydia Leeds (Trelaina), Chris Latta (General Dire), Chris Latta (Captain Gideon), other actors unknown

Note: Teresa was Trelaina’s character in the original Japanese version of this season.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Alien Worlds Season 1

The Sunstealers – Part 2

Alien WorldsCaptain Jon Graydon escapes from the Marcabs, but must leave Captain Griff in the Marcabs’ clutches if he is to escape and warn the ISA of the alien threat to Earth’s solar system. Maura and Tim devise a counter-magnetic generator to render the Marcabs’ sun-mining artificial planetoid helpless, while Graydon plans to lead a desperate flight back to that planetoid to deliver the weapon – and, if possible, to rescue Griff.

written by Mike Hodel and Lee Hansen
directed by Lee Hansen
music by Jim Kirk

Cast: Roger Dressler (Narrator), Linda Gary (Maura Cassidy), Bruce Phillip Miller (Captain Jon Graydon), Corey Burton (Jerry Lyden), Chuck Olsen (Captain Buddy Griff), Jeff Allen (Tim), Stu Jacobs (Zarr Khonar), Tom Rounds (Gargon)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Battlestar Galactica (Classic Series) Season 1

War of the Gods – Part 1

Battlestar Galactica (original)An unusual phenomenon strikes the Colonial fleet as unidentified luminescent objects – which could be vessels or might be life forms themselves – meander among the ships of the fleet. This celestial event becomes less innocuous when a wing of Vipers disappears into the vacuum of space without a trace. Apollo leads a search and rescue mission, but all his team finds is an enigmatic man named Count Iblis. He returns to Galactica with them, and immediately begins winning powerful friends among the Colonial fleet…and swaying opinion away from Adama. Adama sends his son back to the planet from which Iblis was rescued to confirm a suspicion, but the Count doesn’t seem to want any investigation into his past – and proves his point by killing Apollo.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Glen A. Larson
directed by Daniel Haller
music by Stu Phillips

Guest Cast: Patrick Macnee (Count Iblis), John Williams (Statesman), Janet Louise Johnson (Sgt. Brie), Jack Stauffer (Captain Bojay), Kirk Alyn (Old Man), Paula Victor (Old Woman), Paul Coufos (Pilot), Chip Johnson (Pilot), Bruce Wright (Guard), Leann Hunley (Warrior), Olan Soule (Carmichael), Norman Stuart (Statesman)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Blake's 7 Season 2

Shadow

Blake's 7Blake and the crew decide to enlist the help of the Terra Nostra, a spaceborne equivalent of the Mafia, in their campaign against the Federation. Largo, the representative they meet, is a vicious animal who also distributes the highly addictive drug known as “shadow.” After almost getting killed by Largo and his underlings, Blake decides to destroy the Terra Nostra’s source of shadow and discovers that the President of the Federation, in fact, runs the underworld as well. In the meantime, an alien entity is using Orac to manifest itself in the real world and it renders Cally unable to help the crew.

written by Chris Boucher
directed by Jonathan Wright Miller
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, Orac), Derek Smith (Largo), Karl Howman (Bek), Adrienne Burgess (Hanna), Vernon Dobtcheff (Chairman), Archie Tew (Enforcer)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Captain America

Captain America

Captain AmericaRecently retired Marine Steve Rogers is celebrating civilian life on the road, until he receives a phone call summoning him to the lab of Dr. Simon Mills, who has taken up Steve’s father work on a super-strength hormone called FLAG (Full Latent Ability Gain). Steve’s father is the only person who has ever received FLAG without dying from the strength and abilities it imparts to any other test subject, and Dr. Mills hopes that Steve will submit to tests to see if he, too, can survive FLAG. He refuses, but when someone murders one of Steve’s late father’s colleagues, he realizes that others with less honorable intentions are also trying to discover what he knows about FLAG, and goes on the run. A crippling motorcycle “accident” arranged by his pursuers leaves Steve Rogers with no choice but to become a test subject for FLAG.

As he weighs the decision of whether or not to assume the crime-fighting mantle of his father, who was jokingly known as “Captain America”, Steve finds that his pursuers will never give up until they kill him or he brings them to justice. But the man employing them has bigger ideas: detonating a neutron bomb in one of the most heavily populated parts of the United States. Armed with a bulletproof shield, a jet-powered motorcycle, and a special suit of armor, the new Captain America now has no choice but to swing into action.

Download this episode via Amazonteleplay by Don Ingalls
story by Don Ingalls and Chester Krumholz
directed by Rod Holcomb
music by Mike Post & Jeff Carpenter

Captain AmericaCast: Reb Brown (Steve Rogers / Captain America), Len Birman (Dr. Simon Mills), Heather Menzies (Dr. Wendy Day), Robin Mattson (Tina Haden), Joseph Ruskin (Rudy Sandrini), Lance LeGault (Harley), Frank Marth (Charles Barber), Steve Forrest (Lou Brackett), Chip Johnson (Jerry), James Ingersoll (Lester Wiant), Jim B. Smith (FBI Assistant), Jason Wingreen (Surgeon), June Dayton (Secretary), Diana Webster (Nurse), Dan Barton (Jeff Haden), Ken Chandler (1st Doctor), Buster Jones (Anesthetist)

Captain AmericaNotes: This was an attempt to pilot a Captain America series, the latest Marvel superhero to go to live-action TV after the short-lived Amazing Spider-Man series (1977-78) and the Incredible Hulk series launched the previous year; as with Amazing Spider-Man, Stan Lee is credited as a consultant. Having gone to the Marvel well once with underwhelming results with Amazing Spider-Man, CBS green-lit not a series, but a second (and final) TV movie based on the ratings achieved by this movie; no series resulted. Heather Menzies had previously starred in the TV adaptation of Logan’s Run in 1977, also on CBS.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 2 Star Blazers

Teresa: The Beginning Of Love!

Star BlazersWildstar, Sandor, Knox and IQ-9 have made first contact with Trelaina of Telezart, and now Mark Venture eagerly awaits his chance to meet the woman whose voice he has become infatuated with across light-years. Wildstar is surprised to find that Trelaina is just as anxious to meet Mark herself. When presented with a bouquet of slightly wilted flowers prepared by Nova, Trelaina is able to restore them to full bloom, to the astonishment of her visitors. She reveals to Wildstar that, judging by its current movement, the Comet Empire will arrive at Earth and launch a frontal attack on the planet in 46 days…but despite the demonstration of her powers that the Argo crew has seen thus far, Trelaina says she can do nothing more to help them in their impending fight. Then, in private, she reveals to Mark Venture that she does have that power after all – but the last time she used it, she destroyed the surface of Telezart and everyone else living on it.

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

Season 2 Voice Cast: Kenneth Meseroll (Derek Wildstar), Tom Tweedy (Mark Venture), Amy Howard (Nova), Eddie Allen (Leader Desslok), Chris Latta (Sgt. Knox), Lydia Leeds (Trelaina), Chris Latta (General Dire), Chris Latta (Captain Gideon), other actors unknown

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 16 Doctor Who

The Armageddon Factor

Doctor WhoIn one of the better stories of the late 1970s, the Doctor, Romana and K-9 stumble into the middle of a fierce interplanetary nuclear war. The Atrios war effort is faltering, its population demoralized, because unknown to them, the Zeon war machine lives up to its name in the most literal way. Zeos is controlled by a computer, and there are no Zeons, just remote controlled attack ships. Somewhere in the darkness between the two planets lurks a third party, pulling the strings of both sides in the war. The hand of the Black Guardian becomes visible in moving the pieces in this game, and the Doctor is horrified to discover that he will have to take a life to complete the Key to Time.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Bob Baker & Dave Martin
directed by Michael Hayes
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Lalla Ward (Princess Astra), John Woodvine (Marshal), William Squire (The Shadow), Ian Saynor (Merak), Davyd Harries (Shapp), Valentine Dyall (Black Guardian), Barry Jackson (Drax), Ian Liston (Hero), Susan Skipper (Heroine), John Cannon, Harry Fielder (Guards), Iain Armstrong (Technician), Pat Gorman (Pilot), Stephen Calcutt (Super Mute)

Broadcast from January 20 through February 24, 1979

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Alien Worlds Season 1

The Starsmith Project – Part 1

Alien WorldsOn planet Timeon III, eccentric elderly scientist Logan Starsmith works in secrecy on an interstellar drive more than ten times more powerful than the engines currently installed aboard the ISA’s fleet, including Captain Graydon’s Delta One. But an enormous alien craft has intercepted vital parts en route to Starsmith, putting the ISA on high alert. On the planet Nikona, the mad Emperor Mika weighs the decision of what to do with the crew of the Earth freighter he has hijacked. Delta One is sent to Timeon III to bring Professor Starsmith back to Earth space for his own protection, but during hyperdrive, Starsmith abruptly begins transforming into something non-human…

written by Mike Hodel and Lee Hansen
directed by Lee Hansen
music by Jim Kirk

Cast: Roger Dressler (Narrator / Commissioner), Linda Gary (Maura Cassidy), Bruce Phillip Miller (Captain Jon Graydon), Corey Burton (Jerry Lyden), Chuck Olsen (Captain Buddy Griff), Richard Paul (Professor Starsmith), Byron Kane (Matib), Francis Bay (Emperor Mika), Lester Fletcher (Starsmith’s Assistant), Carol Bilger (Ariana), Gail Murphy (Dr. Rossiter)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Battlestar Galactica (Classic Series) Season 1

War of the Gods – Part 2

Battlestar Galactica (original)All hell is literally breaking loose aboard Galactica. Count Iblis is revealed to be a legendary creature known in Earth lore as the Prince of Darkness, but he has already won the respect and admiration of the Council of Twelve by capturing Baltar and handing him over to them. Only Adama and his closest friends stand against the powerful being – and Adama pays for the struggle when he learns of Apollo’s death at Iblis’ hands. When another immensely powerful race of creatures arrives, calling themselves the Seraphs, it dawns on the crew that they have become pawns in the holiest war of them all…one which they may not survive.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Glen A. Larson
directed by Daniel Haller
music by Stu Phillips

Guest Cast: Patrick Macnee (Count Iblis), John Williams (Statesman), Janet Louise Johnson (Sgt. Brie), Jack Stauffer (Captain Bojay), Kirk Alyn (Old Man), Paula Victor (Old Woman), Paul Coufos (Pilot), Chip Johnson (Pilot), Bruce Wright (Guard), Leann Hunley (Warrior), Olan Soulè (Carmichael), Norman Stuart (Statesman)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Blake's 7 Season 2

Weapon

Blake's 7A Federation weapons expert has defected from the Federation and gone into hiding, taking his most ingenious weapon and a slave girl with him into hiding. In the meantime, Servalan and Travis – newly released from a labor camp – are enlisting the aid of Clonemaster Fen in creating a clone of Blake for use in retrieving the weapon. When the real Liberator crew arrives and the weapon is put to work for and on nearly everybody, the last surviving clone of Blake takes the weapon from Servalan and guards it with his life.

written by Chris Boucher
directed by George Spenton-Foster
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Gareth Thomas (Blake[s]), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Brian Croucher (Travis), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Kathleen Byron (Fen), John Bennett (Coser), Scott Fredericks (Carnell), Candace Glendenning (Rashel), Graham Simpson (Officer)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 2 Star Blazers

Teresa: Farewell To Love!

Star BlazersWith barely a month and a half to return to Earth and mount what may be a hopeless defense of Earth against the Comet Empire’s onslaught, the crew of the Argo prepares to leave Telezart. But Mark Venture has already given up hope – Trelaina can’t be convinced to join the crew, and she stands by her pledge not to use her tremendous powers. Even when she’s told that the Comet Empire will strike at Telezart itself in only three days, Trelaina doesn’t relent…until Venture says that he will stay there with her instead of returning to the Argo. She comes back to the Argo with him briefly, but returns to her planet as the ship gets underway. Wildstar is grateful, knowing how vital his chief navigator is to the battle ahead, but when Venture learns that Trelaina has remained behind on Telezart, he may have lost his fighting spirit.

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

Season 2 Voice Cast: Kenneth Meseroll (Derek Wildstar), Tom Tweedy (Mark Venture), Amy Howard (Nova), Eddie Allen (Leader Desslok), Chris Latta (Sgt. Knox), Lydia Leeds (Trelaina), Chris Latta (General Dire), Chris Latta (Captain Gideon), other actors unknown

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Alien Worlds Season 1

The Starsmith Project – Part 2

Alien WorldsRushed to the sick bay aboard Starlab, Professor Starsmith is dying. A voice that isn’t his begs for Starlab’s doctors to save his life, and even tells them how to prepare an atmosphere that will allow him to recover. The being that had been masquerading as Starsmith is a refugee from Nikona, and asks for the ISA’s intervention to save his planet from Emperor Mika’s insane reign. But any Earthman setting foot on Nikona will be marked for death the moment the Emperor sees him.

written by Mike Hodel and Lee Hansen
directed by Lee Hansen
music by Jim Kirk

Cast: Roger Dressler (Narrator / Commissioner), Linda Gary (Maura Cassidy), Bruce Phillip Miller (Captain Jon Graydon), Corey Burton (Jerry Lyden), Chuck Olsen (Captain Buddy Griff), Richard Paul (Professor Starsmith), Byron Kane (Matib), Francis Bay (Emperor Mika), Lester Fletcher (Starsmith’s Assistant), Carol Bilger (Ariana), Gail Murphy (Dr. Rossiter)

LogBook entry by Earl Green