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Classic Season 03 Doctor Who

The Daleks’ Masterplan

Doctor WhoAs Space Security Agent Bret Vyon and a fatalistic colleague search for their missing comrade Marc Cory on the planet Kembel, little do they realize they’re about to become the first witnesses to the beginning of a Dalek invasion of Earth’s galaxy and solar system. Vyon escapes with his life, but his radio transmitter is destroyed, leaving him unable to warn Earth of the impending danger. The TARDIS lands on Kembel, and when the Doctor steps outside to explore, he is ambushed by Vyon, who takes the key to his timeship. Vyon enters the TARDIS and tries to coerce Katarina into operating the controls, but Katarina – still new to the TARDIS – can’t help him, and Steven attacks Vyon and lets the Doctor back in. The Doctor secures Vyon in a magnetic security chair which holds him immoble, and returns to his explorations outside, spotting Daleks nearby. Vyon helps Katarina cure Steven of his poisoning, while the Doctor infiltrates a nearby spaceport where the Daleks are gathering. He impersonates one of several visiting delegates, and discovers that the Daleks – with help from the traitorous Mavic Chen, guardian of the solar system – plan to unleash a weapon called the Time Destructor. When they find the TARDIS door ajar, the Daleks force Katarina, Steven and Bret Vyon out of the time machine, and the former TARDIS travelers have to steal a ship from the spaceport. Vyon intends to leave the Doctor behind, but the Doctor manages to get aboard as the ship takes off – having stolen the valuable taranium core that would power the Time Destructor. The Daleks pursue, forcing the ship down on the prison planet Desperus, where two prisoners hijack the ship as it takes off again. The criminals take Katarina hostage and barricade themselves into an airlock, but the girl bravely sacrifices her own life to open the airlock, killing the hijackers in the process. The Doctor and Steven are stunned, but continue racing toward Earth to warn humanity of the Daleks’ plan.

Mavic Chen beats them back to Earth and has the Space Security Service declare Vyon, Steven and the Doctor traitors to the human race, but the three travelers haven’t taken quite the path Chen expected, and elude capture. Chen assigns special agent Sara Kingdom to track them down and eliminate them, unaware that she is Vyon’s sister. Vyon leads the Doctor and Steven to a friend of his, only to discover that this friend is in Chen’s employ and is also in on the conspiracy to hand Earth over to the Daleks. Sara Kingdom arrives at the scene and guns down her brother in cold blood, continuing the pursue the other two. She pursues them into a laboratory where a matter-transmission experiment is taking place, and all three are transported through space to the planet Mira. The Daleks follow the travelers to Mira, where Sara experiences a change of heart as the murder of her brother sinks in. But her realization is almost cut short by a new threat – Mira’s invisible and lethal indigenous life forms. When the Daleks corner the time travelers, those creatures offer an opportunity to escape. The Doctor, Sara and Steven commandeer the Dalek ship and leave Mira. As the Dalek ship follows a pre-programmed course back to Kembel, the Doctor makes a fake taranium core. He uses it to bluff his way back into the TARDIS on Kembel, handing it over to the Daleks at the last minute. But despite the fact that the travelers still have the real taranium core, the TARDIS takes them someplace else inhospitable, with a poisonous atmosphere: 20th century Earth.

When the Doctor investigates, he is mistaken for a homeless man, discovering that the “poisonous atmosphere” is merely that of polluted 1966 London. Steven and Sara have to act fast to rescue the Doctor from police (who are, after all, merely looking after “their” police box) and escape back to the TARDIS. They then wind up materializing in a Hollywood studio during a film shoot, and a brief but maddening chase ensues between the time travelers and the filmmakers. The TARDIS then takes them to the volcanic planet of Tigus. Not only are the Daleks lying in wait, having discovered that they do not possess a real taranium core, but so too is the Meddling Monk, an interfering fellow Time Lord the Doctor and Steven left stranded in 1066 A.D.. The Monk tries to exact his revenge by locking the Doctor out of his own TARDIS, but the Doctor uses a special property of his ring to gain entry. With both the Monk and the Daleks in hot pursuit, the Doctor and his companions make a quick escape to ancient Egypt, but their reception is anything but friendly there – a possessive Pharaoh lays claim to the TARDIS.

Followed to Egypt by the Monk, the Doctor realizes that the stakes are now higher and he’ll have to use the real taranium core as a bargaining chip. When the Monk ensures that Steven and Sara are captured by the Daleks and suggests they use the two humans as hostages, the Doctor is forced to hand over the core to the Daleks. His friends returned to him (and having once again sabotaged the Monk’s TARDIS), the Doctor races back to Kembel, where Mavic Chen’s ambition grows to the point where the corrupt leader no longer thinks he needs the Daleks. They solve this problem by swiftly exterminating Chen and activating the Time Destructor. When the Doctor realizes how the Daleks’ ultimate weapon will work, he decides to run for the safety of the TARDIS to wait out its effects, for the weapon will quickly destroy itself and all those around it. Tragically, Sara does not live to see the Daleks’ grandiose plan fail.

Order this story on audio CDwritten by Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner
directed by Douglas Camfield
music by Tristram Cary

Guest Cast: Jean Marsh (Sara Kingdom), Brian Cant (Kert Gantry), Nicholas Courtney (Bret Vyon), Pamela Greer (Lizan), Philip Anthony (Roald), Kevin Stoney (Mavic Chen), Michael Guest (Interviewer), Julian Sherrier (Zephon), Roy Evans (Trantis), Douglas Sheldon (Kirksen), Dallas Cavell (Bors), Geoffrey Cheshire (Garge), Maurice Browning (Karlton), Jack Pitt (Gearon), Roger Avon (Daxtar), James Hall (Borkar), Bill Meilen (Froyn), John Herrington (Rhynmal), Terence Woodfield (Celation), Peter Butterworth (Monk), Roger Brierly (Trevor), Bruce Wightman (Scott), Jeffrey Isaac (Khepren), Derek Ware (Tuthmos), Walter Randall (Hyksos), Bryan Mosley (Malpha), Robert Jewell, Kevin Manser, Gerald Taylor, John Scott Martin (Daleks), Peter Hawkins, David Graham (Dalek voices), Clifford Earl (Sergeant), Norman Mitchell, Malcolm Rogers (Policemen), Kenneth Thornett (Inspector), Reg Pritchard (Man in mackintosh), Sheila Dunn (Blossom Lefavre), Leonard Grahame (Darcy Tranton), Royston Tickner (Steinberger P. Green), Mark Ross (Ingmar Knopf), Conrad Monk (Assistant Director), David James (Arab Sheik), Paula Topham (Vamp), Robert G. Jewell (Clown), Albert Barrington (Professor Webster), Buddy Windrush (Prop Man), Steven Machin, Jack le White (Cameramen), Paul Sarony, Malcolm Leopold (Keystone Cops), Harry Davies (Make-up Man), William Hall (Cowboy), Jean Pastell (Saloon Girl), M.J. Matthews (Chaplain)

Broadcast from November 13, 1965 through January 29, 1966

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
National Public Radio Star Wars

The Jedi Nexus

Star WarsC-3PO and R2-D2 talk their way out of Imperial capture and try to find a safe place to plug into the Death Star and avert certain doom for Luke and the others. Meanwhile, just as Ben Kenobi has sensed his presence, Darth Vader has sensed Ben’s – and sets out to meet him face-to-face. Luke, Han, Leia and Chewie manage to escape death in the trash compactor, but immediately encounter stormtroopers while they try to return to the Falcon. What they don’t know is that a duel looms ahead which will rob Luke of his mentor, but give him a chance to escape with Leia.

Order this CDwritten by Brian Daley
based on the screenplay Star Wars by George Lucas
directed by John Madden
music by John Williams

See the first episode for cast information.

Categories
Blake's 7 Season 4

Blake

Blake's 7Scorpio takes off as timers detonate bombs that destroy Xenon Base or any evidence that the crew had been there – the crew is on the run again. But Avon reveals that he has found the man they need to lead the rest of the rebel forces in the galaxy in a final triumphant battle with the Federation; he has found the real Roj Blake. The ship travels to Gauda Prime, where Scorpio is attacked and loses control. Tarrant crash lands the ship while the others begin trudging toward what they hope is the home of a new revolution, and Tarrant is “salvaged” by a bounty hunter – Blake. After bluffing through a conversation to find out if Tarrant is Federation or not, Blake draws a gun on him and Tarrant lashes back and escapes. Avon and the others arrive just as personnel on the base attack Tarrant, and Blake emerges. Believing Tarrant’s report that Blake has joined the Federation instead of Blake’s protests to the contrary and offers of an alliance, Avon kills Blake and one of Blake’s new recruits reveals herself to be a true Federation officer and shoots Dayna down. Vila knocks the officer out and is seen to fall as a squad of Federation troops enter the base. Soolin and Tarrant are the next to fall, leaving Avon to stand over the dead body of Blake, alone to face a Federation squad…

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

Cast: Paul Darrow (Avon), Gareth Thomas (Blake), Michael Keating (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Glynis Barber (Soolin), Peter Tuddenham (Orac, Slave), Sasha Mitchell (Arlen), David Collings (Deva), Janet Lees Price (Klyn)

Notes: Janet Lees Price, who portrays a member of Blake’s team who is killed by Avon, is in fact Paul Darrow’s wife!

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 19 Doctor Who

Earthshock

Doctor WhoA 26th century geological expedition is ambushed underground, leaving only a single survivor. When she crawls her way back to the surface camp, she reports the massacre. A squadron of security troops arrives to investigate, but they also consider her a suspect. However, when the troops return to the subterranean caves to look for the evidence, they first find a pair of killer androids…and then they find four people claiming to be time travelers, who instantly become the prime suspects. But these travelers – the Doctor and his unharmonious trio of companions – are more of a threat to the plans of the Cybermen (once again wearing new suits of high-tech armor). It seems that, fearing an upcoming conference of interplanetary superpowers that could spell the end to the Cybermen’s war effort, the silver ones plan to slam a huge space freighter into the Earth, obliterating a large portion of the planet’s surface. But when Adric manages to thwart the Cybermen’s plans by accidentlly sending the freighter back in time (but still on the same trajectory), he’s either helping to prevent the human race from coming into existence…or ensuring that event.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Eric Saward
directed by Peter Grimwade
music by Malcolm Clarke

Guest Cast: Beryl Reid (Briggs), James Warwick (Scott), Clare Clifford (Kyle), June Bland (Berger), David Banks (CyberLeader), Mark Hardy (Cyber Lieutenant), Steve Morley (Walters), Suzi Arden (Snyder), Ann Holloway (Mitchell), Anne Clements (Trooper Bane), Mark Straker (Trooper Carter), Alec Sabin (Ringway), Mark Fletcher (Crewmember Vance), Christopher Whittingham (Crewmember Carson), Carolyn Mary Simmonds, Barney Lawrence (Androids), Jeff Wayne, Steve Ismay, Peter Gates-Fleming, David Bache, Graham Cole, Norman Bradley, Michael Gordon Brown (Cybermen)

Broadcast from March 8 through 16, 1982

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Movies Original Series Star Trek

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Star Trek MoviesStardate 8130.4: “Captain” Saavik, a Vulcan lieutenant in Starfleet, manages to lose to the Kobayashi Maru simulator’s preprogrammed no-win situation, like every other cadet ever to take the test (with a single exception). Spock, now Captain of the Enterprise, returns to the ship to prepare for Kirk’s upcoming prelaunch inspection after dismissing the students from the simulator exercise. Kirk returns home and is visited by Dr. McCoy, who, after presenting him with a birthday present, tells Kirk that his abilities are wasted on a desk job and that he should resume his command of a starship.

USS Reliant, on assignment searching for lifeless planets as potential test sites for the top secret Genesis project, arrives at Ceti Alpha V. Beaming down, Captain Terrell and his first officer, Commander Chekov, discover a series of cargo bays formerly of the SS Botany Bay, a vessel full of genetically engineered supermen from late 20th century Earth led by the cunning Khan. Chekov urges Terrell to return to the Reliant, but they are captured by Khan and his followers. Khan, after fifteen years, is still seeking revenge against Kirk for exiling the Botany Bay’s crew. Khan infests Chekov and Terrell with Ceti eels, which affect the brain and make their victims susceptible to suggestion, although the eels’ victims will eventually go mad and die painfully. Khan hijacks the Reliant and has Chekov contact space station Regula 1, where the Genesis project is being developed by Dr. Carol Marcus, an old flame of Kirk’s, along with a team of scientists including her son David. Chekov tells the Regula 1 scientists that Kirk has ordered the Genesis device to be transferred to the Reliant upon arrival for immediate testing. David Marcus fears the worst, always suspicious of Starfleet’s motives concerning the Genesis project. Carol contacts Kirk while the Enterprise is on a cadet cruise to verify the orders, but her signal is jammed before she can tell him much.

Kirk takes command of the Enterprise and sets it on a course to the station. En route, Kirk, Spock and McCoy review a presentation prepared by Carol which reveals that the Genesis “torpedo” is a device which will, when fired on a lifeless planet, restructure it into a verdant, life-supporting world ready for colonization. The Enterprise arrives at Regula 1 and is fired upon by the Reliant, which, since the shields were not raised in the presence of a presumably friendly ship, causes critical damage to the Enterprise and kills many of the unprepared cadets. Khan reveals himself and demands that Kirk surrender himself, but Kirk bluffs Khan into giving him time to consider. Kirk overrides Reliant’s shields by remote control and returns fire, forcing Khan to retreat. Kirk, Saavik and McCoy beam down to the space station, finding most of the scientists slaughtered and the Genesis device missing. They do find Chekov and Terrell, apparently left for dead by Khan although the Reliant officers are actually keeping an eye on Kirk for their master. Deducing that the Genesis team must have had an underground test site on the dead planetoid Regula that the station orbits, Kirk gambles on beaming down into the surface under the station. There, they find the Genesis device, but are ambushed by David and one of the other scientists. Terrell kills the other scientist, and then contacts Khan, who orders Terrell and Chekov to kill Kirk. Terrell goes mad and kills himself, while Chekov collapses and the Ceti eel vacates his body. Khan beams the Genesis device up to Reliant.

McCoy begins tending to Chekov as Kirk and Carol discuss why David – their son – remained with Carol and became a scientist himself. They all go deeper into the test area and find a lush cave with vegetation and a waterfall, created by a fraction of the Genesis device’s power. Kirk then reveals to Saavik that he became the only cadet in history to beat the Kobayashi Maru test by reprogramming the simulator, which elicits a comment from David that Kirk has never had to deal with death on a personal basis. Reliant returns to the station after makeshift repairs, but the Enterprise is nowhere to be seen. The Enterprise, apparently contradicting the repair estimates of an earlier communication between Kirk and Spock, on which Kirk realized that Khan would be eavesdropping, arrives and retrieves Kirk and the others while hiding behind the other side of Regula. Kirk orders the ship into the nearby Mutara Nebula, where sensors of both ships will not function. Khan is unable to resist the chance to pursue, and plunges into the nebula behind the Enterprise.

In the ensuing battle, the Enterprise’s warp drive is damaged. Sulu manages a few lucky shots of his own, crippling the Reliant and killing most of Khan’s crew, but the dying Khan is unwilling to admit defeat and prepares to detonate the Genesis device at point blank range, which will destroy both ships. Scotty is unable to repair the engines, and Spock rushes to engineering without a word to anyone (except for what seems to be a very quick mind-meld with Dr. McCoy), forgoing safety precautions and entering the radiation-saturated engine chamber to repair the warp engines. When Spock finishes his task, Kirk orders the ship out of the nebula at top speed. The Reliant explodes, initiating the full Genesis effect on Regula, as Kirk, receiving a message from McCoy, hurries to engineering only to see Spock die from massive radiation poisoning. Spock’s body is loaded into a torpedo casing, which is fired at the Genesis planet. David admits that he may have misjudged Kirk and says he is proud to be his son, while the crew reflects on Spock’s sacrifice and the marvel of Regula’s transformation into a world of its own.

Order this movie on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxscreenplay by Jack B. Sowards
story by Harve Bennett and Jack B. Sowards
directed by Nicholas Meyer
music by James Horner

Cast: William Shatner (Admiral Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Captain Spock), DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy), James Doohan (Scotty), Walter Koenig (Chekov), George Takei (Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), Bibi Besch (Dr. Carol Marcus), Merritt Butrick (David Marcus), Paul Winfield (Terrell), Kirstie Alley (Lt. Saavik), Ricardo Montalban (Khan), Ike Eisenmann (Cadet Peter Preston), John Vargas (Jedda), Judson Scott (Joachim), John Winston (Lt. Kyle), Paul Kent (Beech), Nicholas Guest (Cadet), Russell Takaki (Madison), Kevin Sullivan (March), Joel Marstan (Crew Chief), Teresa E. Victor (Bridge Voice), Dianne Harper (Radio Voice), David Ruprecht (Radio Voice), Marcy Vosburgh (Computer Voice)

Original title: Star Trek II: The Vengeance Of Khan (changed to avoid confusion with Revenge Of The Jedi, which also later changed its title)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 23 Doctor Who

Mindwarp (Trial Of A Time Lord, Parts 5-8)

Doctor WhoThe Valeyard presents another adventure as evidence of the Doctor’s meddlesome nature. During this escapade, the Doctor and Peri arrive on Thoros Beta, the home planet of their old enemy Sil. Kiv, the leader of Sil’s people, faces a painful death unless a way can be found to transplant Kiv’s mind into a physically larger brain. When the Doctor and Peri are captured by the guards, the Doctor is subjected to an experiment wiith the mind transplantation equipment and becomes mentally unstable. Peri escapes with the help of King Yrcanos, a warrior from neighboring Thoros Alpha, whose people are enslaved by Sil. But the Valeyard’s evidence seems to show the Doctor betraying Peri to save his own skin, despite the Doctor’s insistence that these events never occurred. But even the Doctor is stunned into silence when he finally learns why Peri is not present to defend him at his trial.

Order the DVDwritten by Philip Martin
directed by Ron Jones
music by Richard Hartley

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Bonnie Langford (Melanie), Michael Jayston (The Valeyard), Lynda Bellingham (Inquisitor), Brian Blessed (King Yrcanos), Nabil Shaban (Sil), Christopher Ryan (Kiv), Patrick Reycart (Crozier), Alibe Parsons (Matrona Kani), Richard Henry (Mentor), Trevor Laird (Frax), Gordon Warnecke (Tuza), Thomas Branch (The Lukoser)

Broadcast from October 4 through 25, 1986

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Season 01 Star Trek The Next Generation

Skin Of Evil

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 41601.3: The Enterprise rushes to rescue a shuttlecraft carrying Troi, and the Away Team discovers that Armus, an evil entity, is preventing them from saving Troi and the shuttle pilot. To make sure that its point is clear, Armus kills Tasha Yar and torments Troi and the rest of the crew.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Joseph Stefano and Hannah Louise Shearer
story by Joseph Stefano
directed by Joseph L. Scanlan
music by Ron Jones

Guest Cast: Mart McChesney (Armus), Ron Gans (voice of Armus), Walker Boone (Leyland T. Lynch), Brad Zerbst (Nurse), Raymond Forchion (Ben Prieto)

Notes: Denise Crosby officially leaves the regular cast with this episode – though she would appear later in the series, but not always as Tasha.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Highlander Season 2

The Darkness

HighlanderA militant Watcher, Pallin Wolf, traps Immortals by kidnapping their closest mortal friends – usually their lovers – and luring them to his house where he dons night-vision goggles and bests them in combat in a dark room. As Wolf beheads another victim, Duncan, Tessa and Richie are having a night on the town. Richie introduces them to a self-proclaimed psychic who reads Tessa’s palm and predicts doom. Remembering an incident in the distant past when a spurned lover cursed him never to marry, Duncan, shaken by the reading, proposes to Tessa out of the blue, and naturally she accepts. Duncan then sees that they are being watched, but fails to find the eavesdropper. The next day, a suspicious figure passes the store and Duncan takes off after him – which turns out to be just what Wolf wants, as he knocks Richie out and kidnaps Tessa. Duncan eventually tracks Wolf and Tessa down, but before that fateful night ends, Duncan’s life and Richie’s conception of death will never be the same again.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Christian Bouveron & Lawrence Shore
directed by Paolo Barzman
music by Roger Bellon

HighlanderCast: Adrian Paul (Duncan McLeod), Alexandra Vandernoort (Tessa), Stan Kirsch (Richie), Traci Lords (Greta), Andrew Jackson (Pallin Wolf), Frank C. Turner (Harry), Lisa Vultaggio (Carmen), Richard Lautsch (Roman), Kendall Cross (Michelle), Adrian Hughes (James), Travis MacDonald (Kid)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Babylon 5 / Crusade Season 2

The Fall Of Night

Babylon 5The Centauri conquest explodes into open aggression against races other than the Narn. A Narn ship arrives and and requests safe haven at B5, to which Sheridan agrees. Representatives from the Earth government and the suspicious Ministry of Peace arrive, declaring that Earth has reached a peace accord with the Centauri. As part of the Ministry of Peace’s Night Watch program, various paid informers among the station crew are obliged to report unusual events to the Ministry, including the hush-hush communication with the surviving Narn vessel. Londo summons a Centauri warship to force Sheridan to release the Narns into Centauri custody. When Sheridan refuses, a battle is fought and B5 survives, but Sheridan is ordered to apologize to Londo for the destruction of the Centauri ship. En route to his reluctant and very public apology, Sheridan finds a bomb in the station’s central core transport. Leaping out into mid-air, Sheridan escapes the exploding transport car, but he cannot escape the station’s increasing gravity as he falls toward the outer wall. Only a miracle can save him, and at Delenn’s insistence, just such a miracle emerges as Kosh finally reveals himself to all. So long as the Shadows are not aware that knowledge of their activity has spread beyond the Vorlons, Delenn says, there is still time to prepare for the coming war. But Warren Keffer’s final mission – to track down a Shadow ship in hyperspace – may have just blown the galaxy’s cover.

Order now!Download this episodewritten by J. Michael Straczynski
directed by Janet Greek
music by Christopher Franke

Babylon 5Cast: Bruce Boxleitner (Captain John Sheridan), Claudia Christian (Lt. Commander Ivanova), Jerry Doyle (Garibaldi), Mira Furlan (Delenn), Richard Biggs (Dr. Franklin), Andrea Thompson (Talia Winters), Stephen Furst (Vir), Bill Mumy (Lennier), Robert Rusler (Warren Keffer), Mary Kay Adams (Na’Toth), Andreas Katsulas (G’Kar), Peter Jurasik (Londo), Roy Dotrice (Frederick Lantz), Jeff Conaway (Zack Allan), Juli Donald (Pilot #1), Rick Hamilton (Mitch), Robin Sachs (Na’Kal), John Vickery (Mr. Welles), Donovan Brown (Pak’Ma’Ra Ambassador), Joshua Cox (Tech #1), Elisa Beth Garver (Tech #2), Mark Hendrickson (Narn #1), Joshua Patton (Human/Minbari Kosh), Kim Strauss (Drazi Ambassador)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 02 Star Trek Voyager

Deadlock

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate not given: The crew anticipates the arrival of Voyager’s first baby as Ensign Wildman goes into labor. But the expectations are marred when a flotilla of Vidiian ships is spotted ahead. Janeway orders a detour through a nebula, but that route causes severe damage to the ship. Voyager becomes stranded when its antimatter supply begins to drain with no explanation. Harry is killed when a hull breach opens beneath him and he falls into open space, and Kes vanishes through an unknown portal. The crew prepares to abandon ship, and Janeway finally decides to evacuate the bridge when
Stardate not given: Captain Janeway sees an image of herself on the bridge, battered, bleeding and running toward the turbolift. And for reasons no one can explain, a duplicate of Kes has suddenly appeared on board. After an investigation, it is revealed that the subspace anomalies within the nebula caused a quantum-level duplication of the ship and crew. Torres establishes communications with the other Voyager, but the two captains cannot find any course of action that won’t destroy one or both ships. When a Vidiian ship arrives and the organ harvesters board Voyager and begin wiping out the crew, only one option seems viable – setting Voyager to self-destruct. But without the crew’s help, the “other” crew could also perish.

Order the DVDswritten by Brannon Braga
directed by David Livingston
music by Dennis McCarthy

Cast: Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway), Robert Beltran (Chakotay), Roxann Biggs-Dawson (B’Elanna Torres), Jennifer Lien (Kes), Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris), Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Tim Russ (Tuvok), Garrett Wang (Ensign Harry Kim), Nancy Hower (Ensign Wildman), Simon Billig (Hogan), Bob Clendenin (Vidiian Surgeon), Ray Proscia (Vidiian Commander), Keythe Farley (Vidiian #2), Chris Johnston (Vidiian #1), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice)

LogBook entry by Paul Campbell

Categories
Deep Space Nine Season 06 Star Trek

The Tears Of The Prophets

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate not given: Starfleet has finally decided to go on the offensive in the war against the Dominion, and Sisko is chosen to lead the task force that will be sent to attack the Chin’taka system, a “weak spot” in Cardassian space. This he does, despite a warning vision from the Prophets. Meanwhile, Dukat has returned to Cardassia with what he claims is the key to victory. He breaks an ancient Bajoran relic, and becomes possessed by the pagh wraith inside. The results will be devastating to the Federation and Dominion alike, as well as to the crew of Deep Space Nine, who will lose someone very dear to them.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Ira Steven Behr & Hans Beimler
directed by Allan Kroeker
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: Andrew J. Robinson (Garak), Jeffrey Combs (Weyoun), Marc Alaimo (Dukat), David Birney (Letant), J.G. Hertzler (Martok), Aron Eisenberg (Nog), Casey Biggs (Damar), Barry Jenner (Admiral Ross), James Darren (Vic Fontaine), Michelle Horn (Saghi), Bob Kirsh (Glinn)

Notes: This was Terry Farrell’s final episode as a member of Deep Space Nine’s regular cast. As with Next Generation, Deep Space Nine’s cast was originally contracted for a six-year run with the option to renegotiate their contracts between the sixth and seventh seasons. Farrell opted not to return when she felt that the offered salary was not commensurate with her years of experience on the show, and tried to persuade the writers to reassign Dax to a new mission rather than killing the character off.

LogBook entry by Tracy Hemenover

Categories
Babylon 5 / Crusade Season 5

Sleeping In Light

Babylon 5Twenty years after the end of the Shadow War, only Zack remains on Babylon 5, waiting to fulfill his promise to be there when they turn the lights out. Garibaldi and Lise run their corporation and a family that includes a daughter. Franklin continues his xenological medical research from Earthdome. Ivanova is a respected, but tired, General in Earthforce. Emperor Vir Cotto has helped Centauri Prime recover from its devastation. The Rangers seek them all with a message from Delenn, now president of the Alliance…as Lorien predicted, Sheridan’s life is coming to an end. But even as they gather to commemorate his imminent passing, there is still a place for the hope of new beginnings.

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

Babylon 5Cast: Bruce Boxleitner (John Sheridan), Claudia Christian (General Susan Ivanova), Jerry Doyle (Michael Garibaldi), Mira Furlan (President Delenn), Richard Biggs (Dr. Stephen Franklin), Stephen Furst (Emperor Vir Cotto), Jeff Conaway (Zack Allan), Wayne Alexander (Lorien), Romy Rosemont (Publicist), David Wells (Commander Nils), Sharon Annett (Mary Garibaldi), Dan Sachoff (Aide), Lair Torrant (Ranger), Kent Minault (Captain of the Guard), J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5 shutdown technician)

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

Categories
Lexx Season 2

Terminal

LexxWhen awakened from cryostasis with the wrong reanimation sequence, Kai unexpectedly fires his brace at Stan, mortally wounding him. In an attempt to save his life, Zev convinces Stan to surrender the key to the Lexx and then freezes him in Kai’s cryochamber. Zev sets 790 to the task of finding medical help for Stan, and his search leads them to MedSat, a hospital space station. When the medical space station’s receptionist refuses help due to a lack of insurance, Zev orders Lexx to destroy the planet that the station orbits, and immediately Stan’s case is assigned to the station’s top doctor. After he saves Stan’s life, the doctor takes Zev to dinner, where he tries to convince her to give him the key to the Lexx; when she refuses, he knocks her out and takes her to an operating room while his underlings capture Kai and 790. When Zev comes to, she is given one last chance to give up the Lexx’s key – and when she refuses, she is tortured to the point of death, initiating the transfer of the key.

Order the DVDswritten by Jeffrey Hirschfield
directed by Srinivas Krishna
music by Marty Simon

Guest Cast: Simon Licht (Dr. Kazan), Jeffrey Hirschfield (790), Tom Gallant (Lexx), Oliver Stern (Dr. Funz), Barbara Geiger (Dr. Veezra), Eva Ebner (Mrs. Deebee), Errol Shaker (Administrator), Ian T. Dickinson (Berg), Tatiana Alexander (Nurse)

Note: This is Eva Habermann’s final appearance in the role of Zev.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Deep Space Nine Season 07 Star Trek

What You Leave Behind

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate 52947.9: The final assault of the Alpha Quadrant allies against the Dominion begins, as the uprising on Cardassia grows. However, Damar and his people pay a heavy price when the Jem’Hadar begin destroying Cardassian cities and exterminating the population. Damar, Kira, and Garak are captured, but saved from execution by fellow revolutionaries. Damar is killed in the effort to storm Dominion headquarters, and Kira and Garak manage to seize control, killing the eighth and last Weyoun in the process, and taking the Female Changeling prisoner. Meanwhile, the tide of the space battle turns when the Cardassian ships begin firing on their erstwhile Dominion allies.

The final end of the war comes when Odo joins Kira and Garak, and links with the Female Changeling, curing her and obtaining her agreement to sign a peace treaty and be tried for her crimes. In exchange, Odo promises to rejoin the Great Link and heal his people, hoping that in time he can teach them to reconcile with the solids.

On Bajor, Dukat, whose sight has returned, has entered the Fire Caves with Winn to release the pagh-wraiths. Winn poisons him as a sacrificial offering, but the wraiths bypass her and possess Dukat’s body instead. Sisko instinctively realizes what is happening and races to the Fire Caves, where in their struggle, he and Dukat fall into the fire, destroying the Text of the Kosst Amojan and sealing the pagh-wraiths in their prison forever. Sisko awakens in the Celestial Temple, where the Prophets tell him that his work is now complete, and that he is now one of them. Kasidy receives a vision from her husband, bidding her goodbye, and promising to return.

Many other goodbyes are exchanged. Garak faces a bittersweet end to his exile. Worf is appointed Federation ambassador to Qo’Nos, and O’Brien leaves to teach engineering at Starfleet Academy. Odo and Kira part on the shores of the Great Link. However, Quark is still serving drinks and making deals at his bar, and Morn still resides on his stool. Bashir and Ezri also remain on the station, as do Nog and Kasidy. And together, Kira and Jake keep watch on the wormhole…

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Ira Steven Behr & Hans Beimler
directed by Allan Kroeker
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Rosalind Chao (Keiko), Jeffrey Combs (Weyoun), Salome Jens (Female Shapeshifter), Penny Johnson (Kasidy Yates), Andrew J. Robinson (Garak), Casey Biggs (Damar), Marc Alaimo (Gul Dukat), Aron Eisenberg (Nog), J.G. Hertzler (Martok), Barry Jenner (Admiral Ross), Deborah Lacey (Sarah), Julianna McCarthy (Mila), Hana Hatae (Molly), James Darren (Vic Fontaine), Louise Fletcher (Kai Winn), Mel Johnson, Jr. (Broca), Greg Ellis (Ekoor), Cyndi Pass (Ginger), Kevin Scott Allen (Jem’Hadar), Christopher Halsted (Jem’Hadar First), Judi Durand (Cardassian Computer Voice)

LogBook entry by Tracy Hemenover

Categories
Season 6 Xena: Warrior Princess

A Friend In Need – Part 2

Xena: Warrior PrincessXena sends Gabrielle and Kenji off to find Mirimoto’s archers, who are gathering nearby, while she heads off alone in the opposite direction. When Gabrielle reaches the area where the archers are supposed to be, she finds that no one else is around. She starts thinking about what Xena has said and done over the past few hours since they arrived in Higuchi. Afraid of what is about to happen to the warrior, Gabrielle sets off at a run after her friend.

Order the DVDsteleplay by R.J. Stewart
story by Robert Tapert & R.J. Stewart
directed by Robert Tapert
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Mac Jeffery Ong (Kenji), Michelle Ang (Akemi), Kazuhiro Muroyama (Harukata), Adrian Brown (Yidoshi), Venant Wong (Mirimoto)

Original title: Japan Part 2

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell