Tag: Season Finale

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Jason Of Star Command Season 1

Victory Of Star Command

Jason Of Star CommandSurrounded by energy clones of Dragos, Jason and Nicole have to outthink their enemy. Dragos believes they’re both trying to escape, but Jason stays behind and hides to sabotage Dragos’ ship from within and face him in a final battle. Dragos’ unmanned drone ships launch an all-out attack on Star Command, and Star Command drains its energy reserves putting up a fierce fight. It’s now up to Jason to defeat Dragos before any further damage is inflicted, but Dragos isn’t giving up without an escape plan.

Order this series on DVDwritten by Don Heckman
directed by Arthur H. Nadel
music by Yvette Blais & Jeff Michael and Horta-Mahana

Jason Of Star CommandCast: Craig Littler (Jason), Sid Haig (Dragos), Susan O’Hanlon (Capt. Nicole Davidoff), Charlie Dell (Prof. E.J. Parsafoot), James Doohan (Commander Canarvin)

Notes: The fairly impressive space battle scenes reveal that Star Command/Space Academy can defend itself quite adequately. This brings the first season of Jason Of Star Command to a close. Where these short episodes, averaging 11 minutes each, shared a broadcast time slot with Tarzan and the Super 7, the next season would expand Jason’s adventures to a full half-hour time slot with new stories and new cast members. James Doohan would not return for that second season, returning instead to his post aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise for Star Trek: The Motion Picture (though he’d keep Commander Canarvin’s moustache even after re-enlisting with Starfleet).

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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Blake's 7 Season 2

Star One

Blake's 7The Liberator leaves the Milky Way galaxy in search of Star One. The coordinates lead them to a cold planet orbiting a white dwarf star on the edge of the galaxy, and getting there, the crew realize that they are on the route that anyone desiring to reach the nearest galaxy, Andromeda, would take. Star One turns out to have an underground base manned by conditioned engineers from the Federation who maintain an antimatter satellite minefield designed to keep someone or something out of the Milky Way. Blake and Cally are captured on the surface, but Blake discovers that Travis is expected to arrive and assumes that identity. Cally, in the meantime, plants bombs. Avon watches on the planet as Travis arrives, but Travis escapes when Avon is distracted by a woman who claims that everyone else on Star One is out to kill her. Avon finds that this is indeed true, because everyone but Lurena is in fact an alien in the shape of the engineers they killed. Star One’s defense barrier is designed to keep out a possible invasion from the Andromeda Galaxy – and that invasion force arrives on the Liberator’s detectors. Jenna uses Orac to warn Servalan of the impending danger while Travis seriously wounds Blake. Avon kills Travis and the rest of the aliens on Star One, but the damage has been done and the zone will be deactivated on schedule, allowing the Andromedans to invade. The nearest Federation vessels are hours away from Star One, and the Liberator, with Avon in command, remains to fight off the invasion…

written by Chris Boucher
directed by David Maloney
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Brian Croucher (Travis), Jenny Twigge (Lurena), David Webb (Stot), Gareth Armstrong (Parton), John Bown (Durkim), Paul Toothill (Marcol), Michael Maynard (Leeth)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 2 Star Blazers

Be Forever, Yamato

Star BlazersZordar’s space fortress unleashes a furious volley of firepower at the Argo, leaving it crippled in space. He then moves on to Earth, where he begins laying waste to the surface of the planet. Wildstar once again orders the Argo evacuated, but he refuses to board the last rescue ship with Doctor Sane. On the bridge, Wildstar prepares to ram Zordar’s ship with the Argo, but he’s stunned to find that Nova – knowing that he wouldn’t leave without a fight – has also remained aboard. But nothing prepares Wildstar and Nova for the surprise of the return of a man who they were certain was dead – brought back to life by a woman from Telezart who was also presumed dead. Horrified that she has returned Mark Venture to the Argo during a kamikaze mission, Wildstar asks Trelaina to take Venture – still only barely alive – to Earth to receive proper medical treatment. But Trelaina has one last appointment to keep…with Prince Zordar.

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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Battlestar Galactica (Classic Series) Season 1

The Hand of God

Battlestar Galactica (original)A momentous opportunity arises for Galactica to slip through the perimeters of the Cylons’ defenses undetected, and Adama decides to risk it all to destroy the single Base Ship that stands in the way. Apollo and Starbuck board the Cylon vessel, using Baltar’s captured fighter, and sabotage the Cylons. But during their escape, Apollo and Starbuck lose a device which transmits the proper recognition signals from their Cylon ship. In the desperate firefight which follows, Adama’s forces gain the upper hand – but will anyone remember which captured Cylon fighter is being flown by Apollo and Starbuck?

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Donald P. Bellisario
directed by Donald P. Bellisario
music by Stu Phillips

Guest Cast: David Greenan (Omega)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Filmation Season 1 Flash Gordon

Ming’s Last Battle

Flash GordonFrozen by Ming himself, Flash is in no position to stop Ming from abducting Dale and Princess Aura to take them back to Mongo, where he plans to force Dale to marry him – or she will have to watch Flash die. Among Flash’s allies, preparations are underway to launch a final counterattack against Ming, especially since Vultan has been restored to power. Though Dr. Zarkov, Prince Barrin and Thun are worried about the lack of contact from Flash, their plans must proceed on schedule, and the Hawkmen’s mobile Sky City proceeds toward Mongo’s capitol city. Ming’s forces mount an overwhelming defense, forcing Sky City to retreat; Ming orders his robot fighters to pursue the city before repairs can be conducted. Vultan’s Hawkmen take to the sky to fight off the attack, while Aura sets Flash free. As the Queen of Frigia joins the fight and turns the tide for Sky City’s survival, Flash crashes the wedding and challenges Ming to a duel.

Flash GordonDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Ted Pedersen
directed by Gwen Wetzler
music by Yvette Blais & Jeff Michael
Flash Gordon theme by Marc Ellis & Jeff Michael

Cast: Bob Ridgely (Flash Gordon / Prince Barin), Alan Oppenheimer (Ming / Dr. Hans Zarkov / Captain Erzine), Diane Pershing (Dale Arden / Queen Undina), Allan Melvin (Thun / King Vultan), Melendy Britt (Princess Aura / Queen Fria), Lou Scheimer (Narrator)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 17 Doctor Who

The Horns Of Nimon – Part 4

Doctor WhoRomana emerges from the transmat pod on the planet Crinoth, and is immediately surrounded by more Nimon…until she finds that she’s not the only one on Crinoth who isn’t a Nimon. Sezom, Soldeed’s predecessor, has been trapped here, and has spent years evading the Nimon on their home planet – a ruined husk of a world that they now seek to escape by invading another world. Sezom helps her get back to the pod and return to Skonnos. Soldeed has now learned that the Nimon lied when it claimed to be the last of its race, but in the course of trying to do the Nimon’s bidding, accidentally sets the Nimon’s power systems to overload. The Doctor and friends must now rely on K-9 to help them find their way out of the maze before the Nimon complex destroys itself.

Order this story on DVDDownload this episodewritten by Anthony Read
directed by Kenny McBain
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Tom Baker (The Doctor), Lalla Ward (Romana), David Brierly (voice of K9), Simon Gipps-Kent (Seth), Janet Ellis (Teka), Graham Crowden (Soldeed), Michael Osborne (Sorak), Malcolm Terris (Co-pilot), Bob Hornery (Pilot), Clifford Norgate (Nimon voices), John Bailey (Sezom), Robin Sherringham, Bob Appleby, Trevor St. John Hacker (Nimon)

Notes: The Nimon return to do battle with the Doctor in the Big Finish audio story Seasons Of Fear. The eleventh Doctor would encounter a species related to the Nimon in The God Complex (2011). Though intended to be followed by the six-part story Shada, The Horns Of Nimon was the final season 17 episode to be broadcast, and therefore marks the end of producer Graham Williams’ tenure, as well as being the final use in the original series of Delia Derbyshire’s arrangement of the theme music, which had been opening each episode of Doctor Who since 1963, sometimes in edited and lightly remixed forms. (It would next be heard at the beginning of The Day Of The Doctor (2013). This is also composer Dudley Simpson’s final musical contribution to the series for which he had been creating music since 1964’s Planet Of Giants.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Blake's 7 Season 3

Terminal

Blake's 7Avon takes the Liberator on a wild goose chase to pursue a signal he has received from who he believes is probably Blake. He reaches the artificial planet Terminal and teleports down alone, telling the others he will kill anyone who follows, but Tarrant and Cally follow him anyway. He finds an underground complex where he is knocked out, drugged, and is taken to a lab where an image is implanted in his mind that he sees and speaks to an injured Blake who relies on his life support systems. Avon is then taken to Servalan, who soon captures Tarrant and Cally as well. Meanwhile, on the Liberator, due to a careless charge through a cloud of corrosive fluid en route to Terminal, the ship is falling apart: Zen “dies,” leaving just enough power to operate the teleport system. Servalan takes hostages, contacts the ship, and has Dayna teleported down. Servalan and her troops are taken aboard by Vila, who then is teleported down himself, saving Orac at the last moment as well. As Avon, Tarrant, Cally, Vila and Dayna watch from the control center inside Terminal, the Liberator leaves orbit with Servalan in control – and explodes in a massive fireball.

written by Terry Nation
directed by Mary Ridge
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Gareth Thomas (Blake), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Peter Tuddenham (Zen), Gillian McCutcheon (Kostos), Heather Wright (Reeval), Richard Clifford (Toron), David Healy (Sphere Voice)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Buck Rogers Season 1

Flight of the War Witch, Part 2

Buck Rogers In The 25th CenturyBuck and Dr. Huer refuse Earth’s help in the Pendar-Zad war, and Ardala likewise refuses to offer Draconian support in the conflict. But the Pendar Council won’t take either party back through the interdimensional vortex unless they take Pendar’s side in the war. Once Buck and Ardala both agree to fight the Zad, Ardala tries to double-cross everyone – only Zarina, the Zad’s infamous War Witch, sees through Ardala’s grab for power. Despite her attempted swindle, Buck and the Draconian fighters are soon fighting side-by-side for the first time. But will that be enough to stop Zarina?

Order the DVDsteleplay by Robert W. Gilmer & William Mageean
story by David Chomsky
directed by Larry Stewart
music by J.J. Johnson

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Wilma Deering), Tim O’Connor (Doctor Huer), Pamela Hensley (Princess Ardala), Kelley Miles (Shandar), Donald Petrie (Keeper), Sid Haig (Nero), Michael Ansara (Kane), Julie Newmar (Zarina), Vera Miles (Council Member), Sam Jaffe (Kodus)

Notes: This was the final episode of the first season, and NBC only renewed the show with a half-season order to see if its problems – not the least of which was star Gil Gerard’s constant friction with the producers and writing staff – could be “fixed.” Former Gunsmoke producer/writer John Mantley was brought on board to retool the series into a more thoughtful, less action/FX oriented series patterned somewhat on the original Star Trek. Tim O’Connor was dropped from the show, as was the character of Dr. Theopolis; the change was made more abrupt by NBC vetoing Mantley’s proposal for a “transitional” episode. And worse yet, the Writers’ Guild Strike of 1980 meant that the series wouldn’t return for over nine months.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Battlestar Galactica (Classic Series) Season 2 (Galactica: 1980)

The Return of Starbuck

Battlestar Galactica (original)Dr. Zee goes to Commander Adama with a far-fetched claim – he has had a dream about a man he has never met, a man named Starbuck. While Zee has never met him, Adama fondly recalls the ace pilot – and remembers the last time any of Galactica’s crew saw him. Isolated from the rest of the fleet during a Cylon raid and left behind, Starbuck crash-landed his Viper on a distant world, unable to repair the ship or contact his crewmates. Worse yet, the only company Starbuck found immediately on this planet was an equally stranded Cylon pilot. Buried in the desolate tale of Starbuck’s ultimate fate, Adama reveals, are Zee’s true origins as well.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Glen A. Larson
directed by Ron Satlof

Guest Cast: Dirk Benedict (Starbuck), Judith Chapman (Angela), Rex Cutter (Cy), Ellen Gurkin (Girl on bridge), Gary Owens (voice of Cy)

LogBook entry 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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Buck Rogers Season 2

The Dorian Secret

Buck Rogers In The 25th CenturyMoments before Buck finishes escorting the last of a group of survivors from a volcanic planet aboard a Searcher shuttle, a panicked young woman rushes into the docking bay, begging Buck to let her board. He lets her get on the ship and fights off a masked pursuer before boarding the shuttle himself; Hawk launches the shuttle immediately before further trouble can ensue. Even once the shuttle and its passengers return to the Searcher, no one is safe: a Dorian ship intercepts the Searcher and its captain demands that the woman be handed over to faces charges of murder. When Admiral Asimov refuses that demand, the Dorians ensnare the Searcher in a tractor beam and use a thermal weapon to subject the ship and its passengers to sudden extremes of temperature, extremes that Crichton predicts will be unsurvivable by human life within eight hours. Buck and Hawk tell Asimov that they do have a passenger that the Dorians – who always wear a mask in the presence of other species, allegedly to hide their hideous mutations – were already pursuing one of the shuttle’s passengers. Even with the Admiral’s defiance of the Dorian threat, some of the other survivors have decided to find and hand over the wanted woman to save their own skins.

Order the DVDswritten by Stephen McPherson
directed by Jack Arnold
music by Donald Woods

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Colonel Wilma Deering), Thom Christopher (Hawk), Jay Garner (Admiral Asimov), Wilfred Hyde-White (Dr. Goodfellow), Felix Silla (Twiki), Jeff David (voice of Crichton), Devon Ericson (Asteria Eleefa), Denny Miller (Saurus), William Kirby Cullen (Demeter)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Into The Labyrinth Season 1

Minotaur

Into The LabyrinthDenied the Nidus by Belor yet again, Helen, Terry and Phil are brought back to their present, in the cave where they first met Rothgo. His powers and life force fading fast, Rothgo releases them from their obligation to find the Nidus: the fight is lost. But they stubbornly re-enter the labyrinth one last time to try to recover the Nidus. Their destination: the labyrinth of myth, in which Theseus is thought to have fought the minotaur. But in reality, Theseus is doing the bidding of Belor: his sword is the Nidus itself, and Phil is chosen to be Rothgo’s champion in the fight to claim the Nidus. Only if Phil is successful can he, Helen and Terry ever go home again.

Order the DVDswritten by Anthony Read
directed by Peter Graham Scott
music by Sidney Sager

Into The LabyrinthCast: Ron Moody (Rothgo), Pamela Salem (Belor), Lisa Turner (Helen), Simon Henderson (Terry), Simon Beal (Phil), Jeremy Arnold (Theseus), Philip Manikum (Guard)

Notes: This concludes Into The Labyrinth’s first series (of three years on the air), but for viewers of the series on the American cable network Nickelodeon, this was the end of the story: Nickelodeon did not air the two later seasons.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Astronauts Season 1

Episode 7

AstronautsAckroyd, sickened by the seemingly endless supply of freeze-dried ravioli that he himself requested to be sent along to eat, is trying to conduct routine wiring repairs despite his poor state of health. But this leads to mistakes, which leads to a critical emergency aboard the space station, now tumbling through orbit and out of contact with Earth. Foster conducts a spacewalk to repair the external antenna, but in the end, the crew’s only hope is…Bimbo the dog.

written by Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie
directed by Dick Clement

AstronautsCast: Christopher Godwin (Mattocks), Carmen Du Sautoy (Foster), Barrie Rutter (Ackroyd), Bruce Boa (Beadle), and Bimbo (himself)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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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