Month: December 2018

Categories
Doctor Who New Series Season 11

It Takes You Away

Doctor WhoThe TARDIS lands in Norway, 2018, near a cabin that seems to be abandoned; when Ryan catches a fleeting glimpse of someone inside the house, they decide to investigate, finding a blind girl hiding in a wardrobe. Her father is missing, and she lives in fear of creatures that she hears lurking outside. Those same sounds drive the time travelers into the house for shelter, and they discover a mirror that isn’t what it seems to be, but is instead a portal to another dimension. The Doctor, Graham and Yaz go through the portal to investigate, leaving Ryan to watch over the girl at the house. Soon, he discovers that she’s not exactly helpless, and the howling sounds coming from outside aren’t coming from vicious creatures. The Doctor, Yaz and Graham find themselves in a near-exact copy of the house they just left, complete with the girl’s missing father – and the mother who she said was dead. The Doctor can say nothing to convince him to leave this dimension, not even for the sake of his own daughter…and worse yet, Grace appears to Graham, trying to convince him to stay as well.

Order the DVDwritten by Ed Hime
directed by Jamie Childs
music by Segun Akinola

Doctor WhoCast: Jodie Whittaker (The Doctor), Bradley Walsh (Graham O’Brien), Tosin Cole (Ryan Sinclair), Mandip Gill (Yasmin Khan), Sharon D. Clarke (Grace), Eleanor Wallwork (Hanne), Kevin Eldon (Ribbons), Christian Rubeck (Erik), Lisa Stokke (Trine)

Doctor WhoNotes: Kevin Eldon is an old hand at Doctor Who and science fiction in general, though his prior Doctor Who role wasn’t on television: he starred as the seventh Doctor’s robotic companion Antimony in the animated audio drama Death Comes To Time in 2001, a production that – in the absence of new television episodes – sought to rewrite some of the ground rules of the series (including killing off the Doctor!), causing some controversy in fandom. He was one of the stars of the BBC2 sci-fi comedy Hyperdrive, guest starred in an episode of the 21st century revival of Red Dwarf, and has more recently been the voice of Penfold in the revived Danger Mouse series and appeared as Camello in Game Of Thrones.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Mars Season 2

Contagion

MarsAugust 2042: Hours after Marta is returned to Olympus Town by a Lukrum crew, workers at the Lukrum mining colony begin falling violently ill, and an emergency call is made to Olympus Town. Javier reports for his routine shift in Olympus’ xenobiology lab, only to find that the lab technician charged with examining Marta’s water samples is deathly ill; Javier is ordered to seal the lab’s airlock from the inside, as he too has now been exposed. At the Lukrum facility, the sickness has spread much more rapidly. Still recovering from frostbite, Marta suits up to go into the xenobiology lab to isolate the biological cause of the mystery illness, discovering that Martian microbes rendered inert by cold have been reactivated by the warm environs of the human habitats at Olympus and Lukrum. Penicillin would eradicate the disease, but having fallen out of use in western medicine, it’s not part of Olympus’ stockpile of medical supplies. Commander Seung could request a supply from the Chinese space station, but since that station broadcasts live to Chinese television 24 hours a day, the whole Earth would know of the epidemic taking shape on Mars in very short order – and that’s something Lukrum CEO Roland St. John does not want. Seung has to weigh the safety of every human being on Mars against the potential political fallout of revealing the outbreak to the public on Earth.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Julie Hebert
based on the book “How We’ll Live On Mars” by Stephen Petranek
directed by Stephen Cragg
music by Brian Reitzell

MarsCast: Jihae (Hana Seung / Joon Seung), Sammi Rotibi (Robert Foucalt), Alberto Ammann (Javier Delgado), Clementine Poidatz (Amelie Durand), Anamaria Marinca (Marta Kamen), Cosima Shaw (Dr. Leslie Richardson), Gunnar Cauthery (Lt. Michael Glenn), Roxy Sternberg (Jen Carson), Evan Hall (Shep Marster), Jeff Hephner (Kurt Hurrelle), Levi Fiehler (Cameron Pate), Esai Morales (Roland St. John), Josh Cowdery (Chris Owens), Nicholas Goh (Gan Chen)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Short Treks Star Trek

The Brightest Star

Star Trek: Short TreksStardate not given: On the planet Kaminar, the Kelpien race ekes out a simple but productive existence, each of them knowing that they will die, and soon: adult Kelpiens are required to “maintain the great balance” by submitting themselves to the harvesting of an alien race called the Ba’ul. The Kelpien priest, Aradar, leads Kelpiens who have reached a certain age to a stone circle where they are sacrificed to a Ba’ul ship. Aradar’s son, Saru, does not understand the great balance, and does not heed his father’s instructions to dispose of a scrap of Ba’ul technology that fell off of one of their ships. Instead, Saru studies and reverse-engineers the device, sending a simple greeting into space. When that greeting is answered by a human Starfleet officer from the Federation, offering Saru the chance to leave Kaminar and see the stars, can he leave behind everything, including his sister Siranna, to see them?

Order DVDsStream this episode via Amazonwritten by Bo Yeon Kim & Erika Lippoldt
directed by Douglas Aarniokoski
music by Jeff Russo

Short TreksCast: Doug Jones (Saru), Hannah Spear (Siranna), Robert Verlaque (Aradar), Michelle Yeoh (Lt. Philippa Georgiou), Lisa Auguste (Female Villager #5), Krista Deady (Female Villager #4), Clayton Scott (Male Villager #3), David Benjamin Tomlinson (Male Villager #1), Adam Winlove-Smith (Male Villager #2)

Notes: Saru mentions Siranna in the second season Discovery episode Brother, noting that there is “terrain” between them that cannot be crossed, referring to Lt. Georgiou’s insistence that Saru cannot be returned to Kaminar without contaminating the natural development of his pre-warp society. David Benjamin Tomlinson appears in Discovery’s second season as Saurian crewman Linus.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Doctor Who New Series Season 11

The Battle Of Ranskoor Av Kolos

Doctor WhoThe TARDIS receives a number of distress calls from one place and time: the planet Ranskoor Av Kolos, over 3,000 years in the future of the Doctor’s companions. When the Doctor and friends arrive there, they’re only able to set foot outside the TARDIS if they’re wearing neural stabilizers to fend off a constant psychic attack. They find a fellow traveler, wandering in a daze, discovering that his crew is being held hostage because he stole an oddly-shaped container holding a violently vibrating sphere from their captor: Tzim-Sha, the assassin whose hunt on Earth the Doctor interrupted. As he was also responsible for the death of Grace, Graham decides he has a score to settle, even if doing so violates everything he’s learned from his travels in the TARDIS. As Graham and Ryan go to recover Paltraki’s captured crew, the Doctor and Yaz discover that Ranskoor Av Kolos’ native residents, the powerfully telepathic Ux, have been enslaved by Tzim-Sha, using their incredible powers to “steal” planets from across space and time, trapping them in the containers. Tzim-Sha’s next target is decided when the Doctor’s arrival reminds him of where he was last defeated: Earth.

Order the DVDwritten by Chris Chibnall
directed by Jamie Childs
music by Segun Akinola

Doctor WhoCast: Jodie Whittaker (The Doctor), Bradley Walsh (Graham O’Brien), Tosin Cole (Ryan Sinclair), Mandip Gill (Yasmin Khan), Phyllis Logan (Andinio), Mark Addy (Paltraki), Percelle Ascott (Delph), Samuel Oatley (Tzim-Sha), Jan Le (Umsang)

Notes: Tzim-Sha (a.k.a. “Tim Shaw”) was last encountered in the season premiere, The Woman Who Fell To Earth. The Doctor refers to the TARDIS as a ghost monument, also a reference to earlier in the season (The Ghost Monument). This isn’t the first time that the Doctor has dealt with someone stealing planets out of their rightful place in time and space, nor is it even the first time that Earth has been targeted; Davros ripped Earth and numerous other planets out of their respective orbits in The Stolen Earth and Journey’s End (2008), Doctor Whoand before that, had to recover the planet Calufrax (The Pirate Planet, 1978). Percelle Ascott was one of the stars of the Russell T. Davies series Wizards vs. Aliens, a show which was created in part to ensure continued work for the BBC crew assembled to produce The Sarah Jane Adventures, the Doctor Who spinoff which had ceased production due to the death of Elisabeth Sladen in 2011.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Mars Season 2

Power Play

MarsNovember 2042: As second-in-command of Olympus Town, Lt. Michael Glenn has privately expressed doubts in Commander Seung’s ability to lead to the IMSF, but Secretary-General Richardson shares none of the same concerns and informs Glenn that no planned changes in Olympus Town’s leadership are forthcoming. The Secretary-General has a crisis of her own on her hands as Lukrum’s Earthbound management strikes a deal with Russia to exploit the mineral wealth of Mars, and she threatens Lukrum with sanctions, though she may be overplaying her hand in speaking for all the member nations of the IMSF. A satellite orbiting Mars spots what may be an indication of liquid water on the surface, perhaps proof that the terraforming efforts are working; Seung and Foucalt leave in a rover for the lengthy drive to see for themselves, leaving Glenn in command; during their trip, Foucalt tells Seung that he has decided to leave Olympus Town to accept a job offered to him by Lukrum boss Hurrelle. When Lukrum’s mining operation hits a particularly thick layer of basalt beneath the Martian surface, Hurrelle orders a power increase to the drill site, putting Lukrum over-budget for the electrical power it should be receiving from Olympus Town. Without consulting Seung or the IMSF, Glenn orders a total shutdown of the power feed to Lukrum, unaware that he’s cutting the power to their living quarters, medical facilities, and not just the drill site, putting the lives of the entire Lukrum colony in danger. Worse yet, when Javier tries to restore Lukrum’s power without orders to do so, he finds that Glenn has locked him out of the ability to do so – short of walking out onto the surface in a spacesuit and taking the risk of manually rerouting the electrical feed. While Javier is busy with this crisis, he is unaware when Amelie goes into premature labor.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Paul Keables
based on the book “How We’ll Live On Mars” by Stephen Petranek
directed by Ashley Way
music by Brian Reitzell

MarsCast: Jihae (Hana Seung / Joon Seung), Sammi Rotibi (Robert Foucalt), Alberto Ammann (Javier Delgado), Clementine Poidatz (Amelie Durand), Anamaria Marinca (Marta Kamen), Cosima Shaw (Dr. Leslie Richardson), Gunnar Cauthery (Lt. Michael Glenn), Roxy Sternberg (Jen Carson), Evan Hall (Shep Marster), Jeff Hephner (Kurt Hurrelle), Levi Fiehler (Cameron Pate), Esai Morales (Roland St. John), Martin Angerbauer (Danny), Attila Arpa (Volkov), Caroline Boulton (Nurse), Emily Corcoran (Ms. Wilson), Khash-Erdene Ganbold (South Korean Rep. Kim), Amelia Hoy (Anchor), Sonia Kaur (Anika Chandra), Timea Kasa (Clerk), Sorel Kembe (Nigerian Rep. Odogwu), David Miller (Assistant), Nicholas Wittman (Oliver Lee)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Mars Season 2

The Shakeup

MarsDecember 2042: With Roland St. John breathing down his neck and Lukrum shareholders on Earth demanding results for the costly expedition to Mars, Hurrelle decides to start using explosives to fast-track the discovery of water, and even invites Olympus Town to send Marta to gather water samples. But moments after the charges are blown, a massive quake rocks the Valles Marineris drill site, and does massive damage to the nearby Lukrum colony. Olympus Town is also severely shaken, but largely undamaged, but Amelie is forced to choose between leaving her prematurely-born baby in an incubator that may be failing, or removing her. Commander Seung leads a rescue expedition to the Lukrum colony, finding a number of survivors, but also several people who died when life support failed, including Hurrelle, who barged into the colony to try to save as many of his people as he could. The Lukrum survivors are taken to Olympus Town and given shelter. On Earth, Roland St. John, CEO of Lukrum, expects the IMSF to provide “political cover” in exchange for a healthy infusion of funding for the IMSF’s Martian science activities…but, perhaps at the risk of her career, Secretary-General Richardson has grown tired of doing Lukrum’s bidding, and decides to let Seung and the rest of the Olympus Town and Lukrum colonists, as well as the first human child born on Mars, reveal the truth to the people of Earth about the difficulty of life on Mars, and whether or not the cost in lives has been worth it.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Dee Johnson
based on the book “How We’ll Live On Mars” by Stephen Petranek
directed by Ashley Way
music by Brian Reitzell

MarsCast: Jihae (Hana Seung / Joon Seung), Sammi Rotibi (Robert Foucalt), Alberto Ammann (Javier Delgado), Clementine Poidatz (Amelie Durand), Anamaria Marinca (Marta Kamen), Cosima Shaw (Dr. Leslie Richardson), Gunnar Cauthery (Lt. Michael Glenn), Roxy Sternberg (Jen Carson), Evan Hall (Shep Marster), Jeff Hephner (Kurt Hurrelle), Levi Fiehler (Cameron Pate), Esai Morales (Roland St. John), Martin Angerbauer (Danny), Jennifer Armour (American Reporter), Attila Arpa (Volkov), Helen Austin (British Reporter), Naomi Christie (Zhen Zhen Yow), Toby Cisneros (American Reporter), Emily Corcoran (Ms. Wilson), Khash-Erdene Ganbold (South Korean Rep. Kim), Nicholas Goh (Gan Chen), Shea Hephner (Chelsea Hurelle), Fen Fen Huang (Chinese Reporter), Sonia Kaur (Anika Chandra), Sorel Kembe (Nigerian Rep. Odogwu), Anna Sophie Marie (IMSF Crew Member), David Miller (Assistant), Joan Carles Suau (Argentinian Reporter), Alexandria Szucs (Abby), Nick Waring (E.U. Rep Davies)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Orville, The Season 2

Ja’loja

The OrvilleCaptain Mercer has become a frequent flyer at the bar aboard the Orville, and he’s not the only one; his unaddressed feelings for his ex – who still happens to be the Orville‘s first officer – are nagging away at him. Something a bit more basic is nagging at Bortus, though: the time of his Ja’loja, a Moclan ritual that’s somewhere between a birthday and a good long visit to the toilet, approaches, and he asks Mercer to divert the ship to his homeworld. When Mercer confesses his feelings to Commander Grayson, he’s crushed to learn that she’s dating someone else aboard the ship, and his curiosity as to who it is leads him to some less-than-subtle overreach of command privilege. A quick stop at a Union outpost allows a new dark matter cartographer, Lt. Janel Tyler, to come aboard, and Gordon instantly obsesses over how best to ask her out, which could make things a bit awkward since her station is right next to his at the helm. Dr. Finn worries that her oldest son Marcus’ new friend is a bad influence on him, only to discover that his friend’s parents are making that assumption about Marcus.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Seth MacFarlane
directed by Seth MacFarlane
music by John Debney

The OrvilleCast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Halston Sage (Lt. Alara Kitan), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Chad L. Coleman (Klyden), Will Sasso (Mooska), Mike Henry (Dann), Chris Johnson (Cassius), Jason Alexander (Olix), Kai Wener (Ty Finn), B.J. Tanner (Marcus Finn), Blesson Yates (Topa), Jake Brennan (James), Adam J. Smith (Nathan), Kristen O’Meara (Jody), Rachael MacFarlane (Computer Voice), Luke Clark (Kid #1), Alicia Leigh Willis (Woman), Francesca Catalano (Xelayan woman), Melvin Diggs (Shuttle bay lieutenant), Michaela McManus (Lt. Janel Tyler)

LogBook entry by Earl Green