Month: January 1994

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Deep Space Nine Season 02 Star Trek

The Alternate

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate not given: Dr. Mora Pol, the Bajoran scientist who studied Odo and first discovered that Odo is a living creature, arrives on DS9 to enlist the shapeshifter’s help in another research endeavor – this time a journey into the Gamma Quadrant to investigate a world that may once have harbored beings similar in nature to Odo. Finding only the ruins of some past civilization at first, the away team also find some local flora that appear to bear some resemblance to Odo. A geological upheaval on the planet sends the members of the away team scrambling for cover from suffocating natural gases. After returning to their runabout and going back to the station, most of them wind up recovering in the infirmary recovering from gas inhalation. Only Odo appears to be unaffected, which is fortunate since something the away team has brought back from the Gamma Quadrant would appear to be lose aboard DS9 – something with abilities remarkably similar to Odo’s…

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonteleplay by Bill Dial
story by Jim Trombetta and Bill Dial
directed by David Carson
music by Dennis McCarthy

Cast: Avery Brooks (Commander Benjamin Sisko), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), Siddig El Fadil (Dr. Julian Bashir), Terry Farrell (Lt. Jadzia Dax), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Nana Visitor (Major Kira Nerys), James Sloyan (Dr. Mora Pol), Matt MacKenzie (Dr. Weld Ram)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 07 Star Trek The Next Generation

The Pegasus

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 47457.1: The Enterprise is assigned to head for an asteroid belt in a sensitive area between Romulan and Federation space, with Admiral Pressman from Starfleet Security aboard. Along the way, it is clear that the Enterprise’s objective is top secret, and that Pressman and Commander Riker have some old business to discuss. On his first Starfleet mission as an ensign, Riker served aboard the USS Pegasus and witnessed a shipwide mutiny against that ship’s captain – Pressman. Riker defended Pressman at the time and they were among a handful of survivors who escaped before the ship was apparently destroyed by a mishap in engineering. Now, twelve years later, Pressman reveals to Riker that the Enterprise’s secret mission is to search for the Pegasus – Riker’s first starship still exists, and still harbors the treacherous secret that once sparked a vicious mutiny whose nature is still a dark, closely-guarded secret in the files of Starfleet Security.

Order the DVDswritten by Ronald D. Moore
directed by LeVar Burton
music by John Debney

Guest Cast: Nancy Vawter (Admiral Blackwell), Terry O’Quinn (Admiral Pressman), Michael Mack (Sirol)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 07 Star Trek The Next Generation

Homeward

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 47423.9: Dr. Nikolai Rozhenko, Worf’s human foster brother, has sent a distress call from his hidden cultural observation post on Boral II, a planet whose atmosphere is going to break down in less than two days. Worf beams down, disguised as a Boralan, only to find that his brother has also been masquerading as a native and providing them with means of survival based on the technology of his observation post. Nikolai is admonished by Picard for his severe violation of the Prime Directive, but when the planet is within seconds of dying, commits an even greater breach by transporting a handful of Boralans into a holodeck simulation of the shelter on their world. The Enterprise crew – especially Worf – are now left with the dilemma of relocatintg the simplistic Boralans to a new world without revealing the true nature of their surroundings. Damage to the holodeck jeopardizes the mission.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Naren Shankar
television story by Spike Steingasser
based upon material by William N. Stape
directed by Alexander Singer
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Paul Sorvino (Nikolai Rozhenko), Penny Johnson (Dobara), Brian Markinson (Vorin), Edward Penn (Kateras), Susan Christy (Tarrana), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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M.A.N.T.I.S.

M.A.N.T.I.S.

M.A.N.T.I.S.A well-organized and planned heist of a bank in Ocean City is cut short by the appearance of a silhouetted figure wearing a high-tech helmet. By the time the police arrive, the helmeted man is gone, but the robbers are still there, frozen in place. In one of the robbers’ mouths, police find a metal figurine of a praying mantis.

In the run-up to the 1994 election, which will decide the next Mayor of Ocean City, the race is down to two men – Ocean City’s Chief of Police, Frank Stark, and an incumbent, elder-statesman Mayor. Stark has attracted controversy by mandating violent “anti-riot” tactical training as the answer to gang activity, while claiming that the sitting Mayor is soft on crime, but most of Stark’s crime-fighting activity is focused squarely on the city’s African-American populace. When amateur videotape of the helmeted man lands in the hands of TV reporter Yuri Barnes, he suspects that the mystery vigilante – known on the street only as “Mantis” – is part of some undisclosed secret plan being hatched by Stark. Barnes’ girlfriend, Dr. Amy Ellis, is an examiner at the city coroner’s office, and says she’s heard nothing about this being part of a police operation.

It’s not long, however, before Dr. Ellis sees the masked man in action for herself, as he arrives in a flying car to break up a crime that uses a deliberate traffic jam to cover for a spree of robberies. The perpetrators are shot with some kind of dart that leaves them paralyzed, like the bank robbers, and then the helmeted man flies away with police helicopters in pursuit. The impossibly high-tech flying car dives into a tunnel, where it shimmers, emerging from the tunnel as an ordinary (if vintage) car. The frozen perpetrators are examined at police headquarters by biophysicist Dr. Miles Hawkins, who is unable to offer any conclusions. After seeing Antoine Pike, head of the Mayor’s anti-gang task force, in action, Dr. Ellis suspects that he may be “Mantis”, though Barnes dismisses that theory. Dr. Ellis has another theory: Dr. Hawkins’ attempts to determine what paralyzed the criminals may lead to Chief Stark having a powerful new weapon which she fears will be used predominantly on Ocean City’s African-American population.

Word reaches Hawkins that Pike’s much-touted truce between the city’s gangs is broken, “Mantis” swings into action to prevent a gang war that will give Stark an excuse to declare a war of his own, whether he does so as the Chief of Police or as the Mayor. But what no one realizes is that M.A.N.T.I.S. stands for Mechanically Augmented Neuro-Transmitter Interception System, a powered suit devised by Hawkins to allow him to move without his wheelchair. But the suit also gives him powers beyond walking, and he’ll need every one of them to stop Stark’s scheme to influence the election…and start a massacre.

Download this episode via Amazonteleplay by Sam Hamm
story by Sam Raimi & Sam Hamm
directed by Eric Laneuville
music by Joseph Lo Duca

M.A.N.T.I.S.Cast: Carl Lumbly (Dr. Miles Hawkins), Bobby Hosea (Yuri Barnes), Gina Torres (Dr. Amy Ellis), Steve James (Antoine Pike), Obba Babatunde (Cornell), Marcia Cross (Lila McEwan), Wendy Raquel Robinson (Hawkins’ Assistant), Christopher M. Brown (Hawkins’ Assistant), Phillip Baker Hall (Smitty), Yvonne Farrow (Magda), Francis X. McCarthy (Chief Stark), Alan Fudge (Captain), Grant Heslov (TV Crew), Louis Ramos (TV Cameraman), Billy Kane (DeCarlos), Jeremiah Birkett (Kid MG), Dex Elliot Sanders (L.T.), Theo Forsett (Jay), Jerry Black (Mayor Beane), Larron Tate (Day Day), Vicellous Reon Shannon (Ski), Tierre Turner (Rahsaan), Martin Davis (Todd), Kimble Jemison (Curtis), David Fresco (Motorist), Edwina Moore (Jay’s Mom), Charles Hoyes (Policeman Guard), Lucy Lin (Newswoman), Ossaun Elam (Gangbanger #1), Richard Jones (Gangbanger #2), Dane Winters (Interviewer), Nelson Parks (Office Worker), Martin Cassidy (Dispatcher), Steve Hom (Cop in Alley), Jermaine Shoulders (10K Member), Mark Phelan (Stark’s Handler), Gene Arrington (Reggie), Richard Zobel (Homeless Man), Mark Avery (Basketball Guard), Robair Sims (Thug), Craig Hosking (Pilot)

M.A.N.T.I.S.Notes: Created by future Hercules and Xena creators Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert with Batman and Batman Returns screenwriter Sam Hamm, M.A.N.T.I.S. was a made-for-TV superhero with an almost entirely African-American cast and no comic book antecedent. Fox made significant changes to the show’s casting and format before it returned in August as a weekly series; Carl Lumbly (as Hawkins/M.A.N.T.I.S.) was the only cast member or character to transition from the pilot to the series. Much was made of Hamm’s involvement at the time, as his scripts for the two Tim Burton Batman films were regarded as a revival for the character in film. The M.A.N.T.I.S. suit was designed by comics artist Denys Cowan and fabricated by KNB EFX Group (then known best for A Nightmare On Elm Street 5, Halloween 5, and Dances With Wolves).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Deep Space Nine Season 02 Star Trek

Armageddon Game

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate not given: Bashir and O’Brien are on attachment to a research vessel in the Gamma Quadrant, attempting to help the Kelleruns and T’lani destroy their bumper crop of biological weapons known as Harvesters. Shortly after finally discovering a means of rendering the Harvesters inert, the scientists on the alien ship are stormed by a squadron of armed troops. Only Bashir and O’Brien escape, beaming down to nearby T’lani III when they are unable to contact their Runabout. O’Brien has been infected by material from a Harvester and will die within days if he doesn’t receive treatment that Bashir cannot provide without the station’s medical facilities. In the meantime, Sisko and the crew have been informed that Bashir and O’Brien died in an accident aboard the research ship – but unknown to the crew, those who Bashir and O’Brien were helping in good faith are deliberately responsible for the attack.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Morgan Gendel
directed by Winrich Kolbe
music by Jay Chattaway

Cast: Avery Brooks (Commander Benjamin Sisko), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), Siddig El Fadil (Dr. Julian Bashir), Terry Farrell (Lt. Jadzia Dax), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Nana Visitor (Major Kira Nerys), Rosalind Chao (Keiko), Darleen Carr (E’tyshra), Peter White (Sharat), Larry Cedar (Nydrom), Bill Mondy (Jakin)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Babylon 5 / Crusade Season 1

Midnight On The Firing Line

Babylon 5A surprise attack results in the capture of a Centauri agricultural colony on Ragesh 3; when he receives the word, Londo Mollari is up in arms. When careful examination of a visual record of the attack reveals Narn heavy fighters are responsible for the invasion, Londo and G’Kar take every opportunity to go for each others’ throats and war seems inevitable. As if trying to prevent a Narn-Centauri war isn’t enough to occupy his time, Sinclair is also troubled by recent attacks by space raiders on unarmed transport ships – the pirates are taking more drastic and violent measures than ever before. The Centauri government decides to take no action regarding Ragesh 3. Enraged, Londo conceals this fact and tries to see if he can encourage sanctions against the Narn Regime in a meeting of the council. When G’Kar claims that the Ragesh 3 colonists have allied themselves with the Narn to escape factional fighting and produces Londo’s colonist nephew as a witness to this claim, Londo decides to take matters into his own hands in a most undiplomatic manner…

Season 1 Regular Cast: Michael O’ Hare (Commander Jeffrey Sinclair), Claudia Christian (Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova), Jerry Doyle (Security Chief Michael Garibaldi), Mira Furlan (Ambassador Delenn), Richard Biggs (Dr. Stephen Franklin), Andrea Thompson (Talia Winters), Stephen Furst (Vir Koto), Bill Mumy (Lennier), Caitlin Brown (Na’Toth), Andreas Katsulas (Ambassador G’Kar), Peter Jurasik (Ambassador Londo Mollari)

Order now!Download this episodewritten by J. Michael Straczynski
directed by Richard Compton
music by Christopher Franke

Guest Cast: Peter Trencher (Carn Mollari), Paul Hampton (The Senator), Jeff Austin (Centauri #1), Ardwight Chamberlain (Kosh), Maggie Egan (Newsperson), Mark Hendrickson (Narn Captain), Douglas E. McCoy (Delta 7), Marianne Robertson (Tech #1)

Babylon 5Notes: The dream of which Londo speaks in this episode is later seen in The Coming of Shadows, and is explained in full in part two of War Without End. It comes to fruition in Hour of the Wolf.

Although Ardwight Chamberlain is credited with the role of Kosh, he only provides the Vorlon ambassador’s enigmatic voice; production assistant Jeffrey Willerth was the actor underneath the bulky suit. Willerth later married series regular Patricia Tallman.

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Season 07 Star Trek The Next Generation

Sub Rosa

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate not given: The Enterprise is visiting Caldos, a terraformed Earth colony modeled after 17th century Scotland, so Dr. Crusher may attend the funeral of her grandmother. Also attending the funeral is an unknown man whose appearance mystifies Crusher. While the Enterprise crew gives the colony’s seismic and meteorological control systems a routine check, strange things begin happening. In her grandmother’s journals, Beverly learns that her grandmother, despite being over a century old, had a young lover. When a strange voice appears to her first in dreams and then in waking, Beverly realizes that the mystery man from the funeral – and from her grandmother’s past – has come for her as well.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Brannon Braga
television story by Jeri Taylor
based upon material by Jeanna F. Gallo
directed by Jonathan Frakes
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: Michael Keenan (Governor Maturin), Shay Duffin (Ned Quint), Duncan Regehr (Ronin), Ellen Albertini Dow (Felisa Howard)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Deep Space Nine Season 02 Star Trek

Whispers

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate 47581.2: After returning from a briefing on security measures that will be needed aboard DS9 for a summit between leaders of warring factions of the Paradans, O’Brien feels that something strange is happening, though he can’t quite place a finger on what it could be. Gradually, he discovers that everything he says and does is being double-checked by Sisko and the crew. His own wife and daughter don’t seem comfortable around him, and even the most innocent questions he asks are evaded by everyone. As the time of the Paradan meeting draws near, O’Brien gets desperate for answers – but everyone else on the station seems intent on stopping him.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Paul Robert Coyle
directed by Les Landau
music by Dennis McCarthy

Cast: Avery Brooks (Commander Benjamin Sisko), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), Siddig El Fadil (Dr. Julian Bashir), Terry Farrell (Lt. Jadzia Dax), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Nana Visitor (Major Kira Nerys), Rosalind Chao (Keiko), Todd Waring (DeCurtis), Susan Bay (Admiral), Philip LeStrange (Coutu), Hana Hatae (Molly), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice)

LogBook entry by Earl Green