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Classic Season 18 Doctor Who

Full Circle

Doctor WhoThe Doctor and Romana are en route back to Gallifrey when something strange happens to the TARDIS. Though it takes time for them to realize it, the TARDIS has fallen through a kind of wormhole into the alternate universe of E-space. Instead of Gallifrey, the Doctor has arrived on Alzarius, a planet whose small humanoid population is threatened by the onset of a deadly mist. During the time of mistfall, legend has it that spiders emerge from the indigenous fruit and deadly creatures appear. A troubled kid named Adric is trapped outside during mistfall, but stumbles into the TARDIS and befriends the Doctor and Romana. The Doctor soon finds that the horrific creatures that roam Alzarius during mistfall are more closely related to the besieged humanoids than either party realizes.

Download this episodewritten by Andrew Smith
directed by Peter Grimwade
music by Paddy Kingsland

Guest Cast: Richard Willis (Varsh), Bernard Padden (Tylos), June Page (Keara), James Bree (Nefred), Alan Rowe (Garif), Leonard Maguire (Draith), George Baker (Login), Tony Calvin (Dexeter), Norman Bacon (Marsh child), Andrew Forbes (Omril), Adrian Gibbs (Rysik), Barney Lawrence, Steve Kelly, Stephen Calcutt, Keith Guest, Graham Cole, James Jackson, Steven Watson (Marshmen)

Broadcast from October 25 through November 15, 1980

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Season 18 Doctor Who

State Of Decay

Doctor WhoStill trapped in E-Space, the Doctor, Romana, K-9 and – unbeknownst to them – stowaway Adric arrive on a planet whose nomadic people live in deference to a trio of well-dressed royals – but their rulers are, in fact, vampires who worship an even more powerful vampire known as the Great One. The Doctor knows of the Great One too, recalling passages of ancient Gallifreyan history involving a pitch battle between Rassilon and the vampire race. The Doctor also realizes that the pieces are in place here to defeat the Great One once and for all, but before he can put his desperate plan into action, he may have already lost Adric to the vampires.

Download this episodewritten by Terrance Dicks
directed by Peter Moffatt
music by Paddy Kingsland

Guest Cast: William Lindsay (Zargo), Rachel Davies (Camilla), Emrys James (Aukon), Iain Rattray (Habris), Thane Bettany (Tarak), Arthur Hewlett (Kalmar), Stacy Davies (Veros), Clinton Greyn (Ivo), Rhoda Lewis (Marta), Dead Allen (Karl), Stuart Blake (Zoldaz), Stuart Fell (Roga), Alan Chuntz (Guard)

Original Title: The Wasting

Broadcast from November 22 through December 13, 1980

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Season 18 Doctor Who

Warriors’ Gate

Doctor WhoThe TARDIS is boarded in mid-flight – a virtually unthinkable event – by Biroc, a lion-like Tharil who seems to be on the run from something. He brings the TARDIS to the zero point – an intersection between E-space and N-space that could finally get the Doctor back to his home universe. This is also of interest to Rorvik, the captain of a space freighter carrying a load of Tharil slaves. Rorvik’s ship has been stranded here for some time, and his plans for escaping are growing more desperate and impractical. A mysterious and seemingly ancient gateway appears as space at the zero point begins to fall in upon itself. Romana is determined to free the Tharils from slavery, even if it means missing the chance to escape from E-space… but the Doctor learns the oppressed were once the oppressors, and there may be no justice for either party this time.

Download this episodewritten by Stephen Gallagher
directed by Paul Joyce
music by Peter Howell

Guest Cast: Clifford Rose (Rorvik), Kenneth Cope (Packard), David Weston (Biroc), Jeremy Gittins (Lazlo), Freddie Earle (Aldo), Harry Waters (Royce), David Kincaid (Lane), Vincent Pickering (Sagan), Robert Vowles (Gundan)

Broadcast from January 3 through 24, 1981

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Season 18 Doctor Who

The Keeper Of Traken

Doctor WhoThe dying Keeper of the harmonious Union of Traken summons the Doctor to help his world as his reign comes to a close. Normally the Keeper would never summon outside help, but in this case an otherworldly evil is slowly preparing to take control of the Union, and otherworldly help will be needed to defeat it. But as betrayals and complacency allow a malignant alien to assume the Keepership – and with it enormous power – the Doctor is slow to realize that this particular adversary is known to him personally. Though he is able to preserve Traken’s people, the Doctor is unaware that his greatest adversary has gained a new lease on life.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Johnny Byrne
directed by John Black
music by Roger Limb

Guest Cast: Anthony Ainley (Tremas), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Sheila Ruskin (Kassia), Denis Carey (The Keeper), John Woodnutt (Seron), Margot Van De Burgh (Katura), Robin Soans (Luvic), Roland Oliver (Neman), Geoffrey Beevers (Melkur)

Broadcast from January 31 through February 21, 1981

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Classic Season 18 Doctor Who

Logopolis

Doctor WhoAfter he takes complete measurements of a British Police Box, the inspiration for the exterior appearance of the TARDIS, the Doctor plans to visit Logopolis to seek the help of the mathematical geniuses there, whose near-mystic incantations of intricate mathematical formulas actually keep the universe from dying a premature death. Thanks to the interference of the Master, the Doctor becomes trapped, and an Australian stewardess named Tegan wanders into the TARDIS, assuming it to be a real Police Box. The Doctor also receives a distress call from Nyssa, whose father has gone missing on Traken. A mysterious ghostly figure appears and disappears, but the Doctor remains silent as to its identity, and the Master finally emerges from the shadows on Logopolis, poised to destroy the universe by eliminating its guardians. All the while, the TARDIS cloister bell counts down last remaining hours of the Doctor’s fourth life.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Christopher H. Bidmead
directed by Peter Grimwade
music by Paddy Kingsland

Guest Cast: Anthony Ainley (The Master), John Fraser (Monitor), Dolores Whiteman (Aunt Vanessa), Tom Georgeson (Detective Inspector), Christopher Hurst (Security Guard), Ray Knight, Peter Roy, Derek Suthern (Policemen), Robin Squire (Pharos technician)

Broadcast from February 28 through March 21, 1981

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Nightmare Man

Part One

The Nightmare ManA quiet village on a Scottish island becomes the site of a disturbingly savage murder. A young woman’s remains – what’s left of them – are found near a golf course. Inspector Inskip, heading up the investigation, is alarmed to find that the wounds are not the work of any kind of bladed weapon: the woman was simply torn from limb to limb and left there. The man who found her, dentist Michael Gaffikin, is deeply disturbed when his expertise is called upon in the post-mortem to test a theory that the victim’s wounds were caused by teeth.

written by Robert Holmes
based on the novel “Child Of Vodyanoi” by David Wiltshire
directed by Douglas Camfield
music by Robert Stewart

The Nightmare ManCast: James Warwick (Michael Gaffikin), Celia Imrie (Fiona Patterson), Maurice Roeves (Inspector Inskip), Tom Watson (Dr. Goudry), Jonathan Newth (Colonel Howard), James Cosmo (Sergeant Carch), Fraser Wilson (PC Malcolmson), Tony Sibbald (Symonds), Elaine Wells (Mrs. MacKay)

Notes: Future Doctor Who director Graeme Harper (The Caves Of Androzani, Revelation Of The Daleks, Rise Of The Cybermen, Time Crash) was one of two production managers on this serial; he later cast Maurice Roeves in a hard-hitting major guest role in Caves Of Androzani. Harper and director Douglas Camfield had worked together numerous times since the 1960s.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Nightmare Man

Part Two

The Nightmare ManAs Michael Gaffikin’s help with the post-mortem reveals a pattern of teeth that are only partly human, other strange happenings take place on the island. A farmer reports that one of his sheep has been “torn apart,” while a Geiger counter at a Coast Guard building goes off momentarily. A member of the Coast Guard visiting the island has gone out of radio contact as well, prompting Inskip to conduct a search. But before Inskip and his entourage find the mutilated body of the missing Coast Guard man, they find some sort of vehicle washed ashore, unlike anything he’s seen before.

written by Robert Holmes
based on the novel “Child Of Vodyanoi” by David Wiltshire
directed by Douglas Camfield
music by Robert Stewart

The Nightmare ManCast: James Warwick (Michael Gaffikin), Maurice Roeves (Inspector Inskip), Celia Imrie (Fiona Patterson), Tom Watson (Dr. Goudry), Jonathan Newth (Colonel Howard), James Cosmo (Sergeant Carch), Fraser Wilson (PC Malcolmson), Jon Croft (McGrath), Ronald Forfar (Campbell), Jeffrey Stewart (Drummond), Elaine Wells (Mrs. MacKay)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Nightmare Man

Part Three

The Nightmare ManUnable to conceal the fact that something horrible is going on on the island, Inskip mobilizes every armed man in the village into a militia under his command. Another attack befalls a Coast Guard shed further inland, resulting in the deaths of three men, but leaving behind evidence. Fiona and Gaffikin also examine the evidence left at a prior crime scene, including a camera with an automatic trigger which is easily tripped by a spike in radiation, and a cassette left behind in a tape recorder. What they discover is confusing: the assailant behind the string of grisly killings is both human and inhuman.

written by Robert Holmes
based on the novel “Child Of Vodyanoi” by David Wiltshire
directed by Douglas Camfield
music by Robert Stewart

The Nightmare ManCast: James Warwick (Michael Gaffikin), Maurice Roeves (Inspector Inskip), Celia Imrie (Fiona Patterson), Tom Watson (Dr. Goudry), Jonathan Newth (Colonel Howard), James Cosmo (Sergeant Carch), Fraser Wilson (PC Malcolmson), Jon Croft (McGrath), Ronald Forfar (Campbell), Jeffrey Stewart (Drummond), Tony Sibbald (Symonds), Pat Gorman (The Killer), Robert Vowles (Lieutenant Carey)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Nightmare Man

Part Four

The Nightmare ManWithout warning, Colonel Howard appears in full battledress and declares martial law, claiming that backup is on the way and that the island’s civilian population now answers to him. Inskip, skeptical, tries to phone the mainland for confirmation, only to discover that the line has been cut. Gaffikin and Fiona are ordered to assist the Colonel, who turns out not to be an officer of the British Army at all, but a Soviet operative working under a stolen identity – as are all of his newly-arrived men. They are here to retrieve the Vodyanoi, an experimental submarine with a symbiotic link to its pilot. That pilot became disconnected from the sub when it ran aground, resulting in the murderous creature stalking the island now. Colonel Howard – revealed to be Colonel Vladimir Kornilov – wishes to clean up the mess for the locals and leave without any further international incident, but even his expertise may not be enough to end the bloodlust of the Vodyanoi’s demented pilot.

The Nightmare Manwritten by Robert Holmes
based on the novel “Child Of Vodyanoi” by David Wiltshire
directed by Douglas Camfield
music by Robert Stewart

Cast: James Warwick (Michael Gaffikin), Jonathan Newth (Colonel Howard), Celia Imrie (Fiona Patterson), Maurice Roeves (Inspector Inskip), Tom Watson (Dr. Goudry), James Cosmo (Sergeant Carch), Jeffrey Stewart (Drummond), Robert Vowles (Lieutenant Carey), Pat Gorman (The Killer)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Day Of The Triffids

Episode 1

The Day Of The TriffidsBill is the only man he knows who didn’t see the shooting stars.

The triffids, tall, fleshy plants, first appeared around the world decades ago, when Bill was a boy. The oil harvested from the plants promised to ease the world’s energy concerns, but that advantage is offset by the plants’ ability to sense and sting human beings, usually blinding them in the process. Triffids are confined to triffid farms, and tended carefully by workers in protective clothing.

Now an adult, Bill has suffered another triffid sting, landing him in the hospital with his eyes bandaged over. He awakens to discover that the nurses and hospital staff haven’t been to his room yet, on the day his bandages are to be removed. He remembers his doctor and the nurses mentioning an awe-inspiring display of shooting stars the night before, but of course he couldn’t see it – nor, indeed, can he see anything until he risks removing his own bandages.

Then Bill discovers that he is the only man he knows who can see anything. The triffids have taken over the outside world and blinded the human race.

Download this episode via Amazonadapted by Douglas Livingstone
based on the book by John Wyndham
directed by Ken Hannam
music by Christopher Gunning

The Day Of The TriffidsCast: John Duttine (Bill), Jonathan Newth (Dr. Soames), Cleo Sylvestre (Nurse), Robert Robinson (Palanguez), Ian Halliburton (Grant), Morgan Sheppard (Bill’s Father), Steven Jonas (Young Bill), Edmund Pegge (Walter), Keith Alexander (Newsreel Voice)

Notes: Producer David Maloney (1933-2006) was previously the director of a string of well-regarded Doctor Who serials, and came to this project The Day Of The Triffidsfresh from having produced the first three seasons of another BBC science fiction series, Blake’s 7. Morgan Sheppard may be better known to Stateside viewers as W. Morgan Sheppard, and has appeared in numerous Star Trek series and movies, Quantum Leap, Babylon 5, seaQuest DSV, modern Doctor Who, Legend Of The Seeker, Charmed, and countless other shows, but he’ll always be Blank Reg from Max Headroom. Director Ken Hannam helmed several episodes of the early ’70s BBC sci-fi drama Moonbase 3, while Christopher Gunning would later score the ’80s alternate-history drama Knights Of God.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Blake's 7 Season 4

Rescue

Blake's 7The survivors of the Liberator on Terminal begin to make horrible discoveries. First, Avon and Dayna discover that the escape craft Servalan left them was booby trapped as a native animal enters it and it explodes. That simultaneously detonates explosions in the control center underground on Terminal. Vila escapes after heroically rescuing Tarrant, but Cally is killed. The space vessel Scorpio arrives, with the enigmatic Dorian in charge. He takes the crew and Orac away from Terminal just as the planet begins to undergo a massive volcanic outbreak, but Avon takes him prisoner and hijacks the ship. Scorpio, however, is automatically set to take Dorian to his home base, where his gunhand and consort Soolin is waiting. It soon transpires that Dorian has been working on a teleportal and has also devised a near-perfect all-weather handgun. He also repairs Orac and reveals that he is over 200 years old. Dorian plans to sacrifice Avon and the others to a creature that renews Dorian when it is given fresh lives to feed on.

written by Chris Boucher
directed by Mary Ridge
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Paul Darrow (Avon), Michael Keating (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Peter Tuddenham (Orac, Slave), Geoffrey Burridge (Dorian), Glynis Barber (Soolin), Rob Middleton (The Creature), Jan Chappell (voice of Cally)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Blake's 7 Season 4

Power

Blake's 7The launch silo doors needed to reach Scorpio and leave Dorian’s base are locked by some means even Vila doesn’t know how to open, and Avon’s mission to gather raw materials for a teleport system gets him captured by the Hommiks, the male faction of the planet’s people. Vila is visited by Pela, one of the last three surviving Seska, who are the women of Xenon, and he is told that unless the door is opened every 48 hours which will soon come to pass since Dorian is dead, a nuclear compression charge will destroy the base. Tarrant and Dayna find Avon and, with the help of the Seska, free him from the Hommiks. Avon then reveals that he in fact has the teleportal worked out, but Pella, driven by a hunger for power, uses telekinesis to open the door and board Scorpio, taking off. Avon boards using the teleportal and kills her. At this time, the others also come to Scorpio, ready to begin the fight anew, now with Soolin at their side.

written by Ben Steed
directed by Mary Ridge
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Paul Darrow (Avon), Michael Keating (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Glynis Barber (Soolin), Peter Tuddenham (Orac, Slave), Dicken Ashworth (Gunn-Sar), Juliet Hammond Hill (Pella), Jenny Oulton (Niria), Paul Ridley (Cato), Alison Glennie (Kate), Linda Barr (Luxia)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Blake's 7 Season 4

Traitor

Blake's 7Tarrant and Dayna teleport to Helotrix, which Orac has informed the crew as being the latest Federation acquisition in an unprecedented new period of expansion and conquest. Tarrant and Dayna discover that a new pacification drug, Pylene-50, is being used to control the normally ruthless Helots while the Federation takes over. They also discover that the inventor of the drug, “Commissioner Sleer,” is, in fact, Servalan, having miraculously escaped from the destruction of the Liberator. Avon, however, doesn’t think highly of that miracle…

written by Robert Holmes
directed by David Sullivan Proudfoot
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Paul Darrow (Avon), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Michael Keating (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Glynis Barber (Soolin), Peter Tuddenham (Orac, Slave), Malcolm Stoddard (Leitz), Christopher Neame (Colonel Quute), Robert Morris (Major Hunda), John Quentin (Practor), Edgar Wreford (Forbus), Nick Brimble (General), David Quilter (The Tracer), Neil Dickson (Avandir), Cyril Appleton (Sgt. Hask), George Lee (Igin)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Blake's 7 Season 4

Stardrive

Blake's 7Scorpio is disabled in an attempt to hide from detector beams behind an asteroid and limps back to Xenon Base. On the way, the ship is approached by three Federation pursuit ships which suddenly explode for no apparently good reason, which is what they investigate back at base. The cause of the ships’ destruction is a space-chopper, the orbital equivalent of a Harley-Davidson, with the significant exception that this one moved at time-distort 15 and was well-armed. The repaired Scorpio visits the base of the space-chopper, where Plaxton, once one of the best minds of the Federation, is devising powerful stardrives for an interstellar motorcycle gang. Dayna and Vila manage to distract the gang long enough to get Plaxton and her biggest and best stardrive out of the base safely. Scorpio is approached by a flotilla of Federation ships while Plaxton is in the engine room connecting her drive. If Avon starts the engine as soon as Plaxton connects the final wire, Scorpio will escape but the firing of the drive will kill its creator.

written by James Follett
directed by David Sullivan Proudfoot
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Paul Darrow (Avon), Michael Keating (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Glynis Barber (Soolin), Peter Tuddenham (Orac, Slave), Barbara Shelley (Dr. Plaxton), Damien Thomas (Atlan), Peter Sands (Bomber), Leonard Kavanagh (Napier)

Notes: Scorpio apparently used the new stardrive to escape danger in Animals, the next episode, but afterward it seemed as though the new engine system was nowhere to be found – you’d imagine it would have helped them out of a few scrapes such as…crashing on Gauda Prime?

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Blake's 7 Season 4

Animals

Blake's 7Dayna visits a friend of her father’s, who she discovers is conducting needlessly painful experiments on some intelligent animals on that planet. Meanwhile, Scorpio is attacked after Dayna teleports, and it barely gets back to Xenon Base. When Avon and the others return to get Dayna, they find Servalan in control of the animals and of Dayna’s mind.

written by Allan Prior
directed by Mary Ridge
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Paul Darrow (Avon), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Michael Keating (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Glynis Barber (Soolin), Peter Tuddenham (Orac, Slave), Peter Byrne (Justin), William Lindsay (Captain), Max Harvey (Borr), Kevin Stoney (Ardus), David Boyce (Og)

LogBook entry by Earl Green