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Red Dwarf Season 02

Kryten

Red DwarfThis Week on “Androids”: Holly interrupts Rimmer’s futile attempts to learn Esperanto to inform the gang that he’s receiving a real live distress call which turns out to be from an android named Kryten aboard a crashed spaceship occupied by three lovely women. But when Red Dwarf arrives to save the doomed ship’s damsels in distress, they turn out to be very, very dead, to the point where even Rimmer can’t turn their emaciated heads. But Lister insists on taking Kryten back to Red Dwarf, where the android is totally lost until Rimmer gives him a list of chores that mainly involve cleaning every inch of the ship. Lister is determined to make a rebel out of Kryten.

Season 2 Regular Cast: Chris Barrie (Rimmer), Craig Charles (Lister), Danny John-Jules (Cat), Norman Lovett (Holly)

Order the DVDswritten by Rob Grant & Doug Naylor
directed by Ed Bye
music by Howard Goodall

Guest Cast: David Ross (Kryten), Johanna Hargreaves (The Esperanto Woman), Tony Slattery (Android Actor)

The Cast of “Androids”: Android 14762/E, Android 87542/P, Android 442/53/2, Android 72264/Y, Android 24/A, Android 960212/L

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 25 Doctor Who

Remembrance Of The Daleks

Doctor WhoDaleks have converged on a junkyard in 1963 London, hot on the trail of a renegade Time Lord who possesses an amazingly powerful weapon from ancient Gallifrey. The Daleks’ quarry has left Earth after being discovered by a pair of curious humans, but unknown to the aliens, that same Time Lord has returned to conclude his business, six lives hence. The Doctor and Ace quickly throw their lot in with Group Captain Gilmore and his team of soldiers and scientists, who have discovered the Daleks and are trying to flush them out of hiding. Gilmore begins accepting the Doctor’s strategic advice, which is devised largely to keep the human race out of trouble – but the Daleks have already found like-minded allies on Earth, in the form of a group of fascist sympathizers led by Mr. Ratcliffe. The Daleks themselves are divided along a line of loyalty or disloyalty to the Emperor Daleks – who, as the Doctor discovers, has changed a little bit over the years too. The Doctor is actually playing a dangerous game, trying to ensure that the Hand of Omega does fall into the wrong hands – but which faction of the Daleks is actually worthy of this kind of power?

Order the DVDwritten by Ben Aaronovitch
directed by Andrew Morgan
music by Keff McCulloch

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Simon Williams (Gilmore), George Sewell (Ratcliffe), Dursley McLinden (Mike), Pamela Salem (Rachel), Karen Gledhill (Allison), Michael Sheard (Headmaster), Harry Fowler (Harry), Joseph Marcell (John), William Thomas (Martin), Jasmine Breaks (The Girl), Peter Hamilton Dyer (Embery), Peter Halliday (Vicar), Derek Keller (Kaufman), Terry Molloy (Emperor Dalek/Davros), John Scott Martin, Cy Town, Tony Starr, Hugh Spright, David Harrison, Norman Bacon, Nigel Wild (Daleks), Royce Mills, Roy Skelton, Brian Miller, John Leeson (Dalek voices), Kathleen Bidmead (Mrs. Smith), John Evans (Undertaker), Richie Kennedy (Mailman), Ron Berry (Gravedigger)

Broadcast from October 5 through 26, 1988

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Season 02 Star Trek The Next Generation

The Child

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 42073.1: Counselor Troi, impregnated by an alien entity, gives birth to a child whose mind is not that of a child but of an alien wishing to discover the variety of human experience. Meanwhile, the ship’s newly promoted chief engineer, Geordi, and newcomer Doctor Katherine Pulaski are faced with the possibility of a fatal shipwide epidemic…

Order the DVDswritten by Jaron Summers & Jon Povill and Maurice Hurley
directed by Rob Bowman
music by Dennis McCarthy

Cast: Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Commander Riker), LeVar Burton (Lt. Geordi La Forge), Michael Dorn (Lt. Worf), Marina Sirtis (Counselor Troi), Brent Spiner (Lt. Commander Data), Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher), Diana Muldaur (Dr. Pulaski), Seymour Cassel (Lt. Commander Hester Dealt), Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan), R.J. Williams (Ian), Colm Meaney (Transporter Chief), Dawn Arnemann (Miss Gladstone), Zachary Benjamin (Young Ian), Dore Keller (Crewman)

Notes: This story was originally conceived in the mid 1970s as an episode of the aborted late ’70s Star Trek Phase II series, which was to have been a new series with the original crew of the Enterprise. (That production later morphed into the first Star Trek movie.) The script was dusted off to serve as the delayed season premiere after a Writers’ Guild strike brought American TV production to a halt in the summer of 1988. It is also notable for being the first appearance of Guinan.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
KTMA Season Mystery Science Theater 3000

Experiment K01: Invaders From The Deep

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The KTMA SeasonMST3K Story: Joel says the guys at the station sent a fax saying that Invaders From The Deep is up next. Crow has fired the retro rockets, but wants Servo to keep his involvement quiet. Joel apparently spends some time looking after some “vacuuflowers” which intoxicate with just a smell causing the Bots to attempt to avoid smelling them by putting clothespins on their noses.

Invaders From The Deep Story: WASP (the World Aquanaut Security Patrol) has been charged with the task of keeping the oceans safe. Captain Troy Tempest commands the submarine Stingray, the most impressive vessel in WASP’s fleet. He is accompanied by Lt. George Lee “Phones” Sheridan and Marina, a beautiful, but mute, princess of an underwater kingdom. Giving support at the home base, Marineville, are WASP’s leader, Commander Sam Shore and his daughter, Lt. Atlanta Shore. Their adventures are dramatized in the following stories:

  • “Hostages of the Deep” – Admiral Carson, a former member of WASP, and his wife are kidnapped by the evil Gadus. Gadus leaves a bomb behind to destroy the WASPs when they come to investigate. His plans are foiled by a coded radio signal sent by the Admiral to Troy and Phones. Gadus flees deep into the ocean, finding refuge in a crack in the ocean floor too narrow for Stingray to enter. Marina attempts to rescue the Admiral and his wife, but she is captured. Troy and Phones manage to survive the intense pressure, rescue the captives and defeat Gadus.
  • “Deep Heat” – In the middle of a rare night out, the Stingray team are called into action to discover the whereabouts of a missing probe. While investigating, the Stingray is sucked into the same crater where the probe was lost. At the bottom, Troy and Phones meet the last two survivors of an underwater race, the Centrallius. They explain that recent volcanic eruptions destroyed their world and that they tried to use the probe to escape, but failed. Since the WASPs have only two air masks, the Centrallius take the masks by force and attempt to board the Stingray. When Marina refuses to let them in, they return to their home, where they are overcome by the WASPs. By holding their breath, the WASPs are able to allow the Centrallius to use the air masks until all four reach the Stingray and escape to safety.
  • “The Big Gun” – Stingray is attacked by a pair of submarines with powerful guns. The WASPs destroy one of the submarines and give chase to the other, leading them to the underwater city of Solarstar. The water pressure begins to prove too much for Stingray and she begins to buckle. Marina, who is immune to the effects of the water pressure, is able to destroy the final submarine, enabling Stingray to return to safer waters.
  • “Emergency Marineville” – The WASPs’ home base Marineville finds itself under missile attack from an unknown location. Tracking the path of the missiles, Stingray and her crew come upon a volcano located on a tropical island. The inhabitants are able to capture the WASPs and torture Marina to get information that will allow their missiles to destroy Marineville. Troy and Phones manage to escape and disarm the missile before it is launched. They leave a message detailing their location inside the missile. When the missile lands in Marineville, the message is discovered, the WASPs are rescued and the aliens are defeated.

Season 0 Regular Cast: Joel Hodgson (Joel Robinson), Trace Beaulieu (Crow T. Robot / Dr. Clayton Forrester), Josh Weinstein (Tom Servo / Gypsy / Dr. Lawrence Erhardt), Kevin Murphy (Puppet Operation and Voices)

MST3K segments written by Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Josh Weinstein, Jim Mallon & Kevin Murphy
MST3K segments director unknown
Invaders From The Deep written by Allan Fennell
Invaders From The Deep directed by Desmond Saunders, David Elliott & John Kelly
Invaders From The Deep music by Barry Gray

MST3K Guest Cast: unknown

Invaders From The Deep Cast: Don Mason (Troy), Lois Maxwell (Atlanta), Robert Easton (Phones, X-20)

LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey

Categories
Classic Season 26 Doctor Who

Battlefield

Doctor WhoThe Doctor and Ace arrive in Britain in the late 90s, near a stranded convoy carrying a nuclear missile. Strange weather and power outages seem to be taking place all of a sudden, and the Doctor himself is mystified at the coincidences – especially since all of this is happening on the shores of the lake where, according to legend, the dying King Arthur returned Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake. The legend turns out to have a solid foundation in reality – but a different reality where one of the Doctor’s future selves was trapped for a time, assuming the identity of Merlin. Now that warriors on both sides of the ancient battle are entering Earth’s dimension, the Doctor must take on a role he doesn’t even know how to play.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Ben Aaronovitch
directed by Michael Kerrigan
music by Keff McCulloch

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred, Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart), Jean Marsh (Morgaine), Christopher Bowen (Mordred), Angela Bruce (Brigadier Winifred Bambera), Marcus Gilbert (Ancelyn), Ling Tai (Shou Yuing), Angela Douglas (Doris), June Bland (Elizabeth Rowlinson), Noel Collins (Pat Rowlinson), James Ellis (Peter Warmsly), Marek Anton (The Destroyer), Dorota Rae (Flight Lieutenant Lavel), Robert Jezek (Sergeant Zbrigniev), Paul Tomany (Major Husak), Stefan Schwartz (Knight Commander)

Broadcast from September 6 through 27, 1989

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Alien Nation Season 1

Pilot

Alien NationFive years after a ship full of Tenctonese slaves crashed on Earth, the “Newcomers” are gradually integrating into human society, holding jobs, holding public office, and struggling for acceptance. LAPD Detective Matt Sikes and his Tenctonese partner, Detective George Francisco, find themselves investigating a case involving the body of a dead homeless man, covered with sores of an unknown origin. They find most of the leads in the case to be dead-ends, but things get more complicated when the body vanishes from the coroner’s morgue. In the meantime, they have their hands full with other emergencies as well, including breaking up a rally of anti-Newcomer “Purists” at a local school which happens to be attended by George’s eight-year-old daughter Emily. The protest rally is quickly disbanded by Sikes, but when class resumes, Emily discovers that bigotry isn’t a phenomenon unique to adult humans. Emily’s older brother Buck actively resents his father’s insistence that he assimilate into human society, opting instead to skip school and fall in with a crowd of like-minded Tenctonese teens, though Buck’s attempts to live part of his life on the streets may have disastrous consequences. George’s wife Susan attends classes of her own, trying to discover a niche she can fill on Earth.

When Burns, a tabloid photographer who hangs around the precinct and continually annoys Sikes, captures a photo of a hulking insectoid creature, and Newcomer bodies begin to turn up horribly disfigured, rumors abound, ranging from an unknown virus brought to Earth by the aliens, or some sort of creature that occupied a Newcomer host body for its trip to Earth. Public sentiment turns against the Tenctonese and tensions rise. Sikes turns to his Newcomer neighbor, biologist Cathy Frankel, for help in deciphering the clues, but it seems that she knows something about the case that she doesn’t want to discuss. Sikes and George mount a stakeout at the site where Newcomer corpses have been found, only to discover that their threat may be more home-grown than they realized.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episodewritten by Kenneth Johnson
directed by Kenneth Johnson
music by Joe Harnell

Cast: Gary Graham (Matt Sikes), Eric Pierpoint (George Francisco), Michele Scarabelli (Susan Francisco), Lauren Woodland (Emily Francisco), Sean Six (Buck Francisco), Terri Treas (Cathy), Molly Morgan (Jill), Jeff Marcus (Albert Einstein), Jeff Doucette (Burns), Ron Fassler (Capt. Grazer), Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs (Sgt. Dobbs), L. Scott Caldwell (Lyddie), Diane Civita (Jill’s Mother), William Frankfather (Purist Leader), Ketty Lester (Teacher), Loyda Ramos (Puente), Tim Russ (Ketnes), Brian Smiar (Priest), Evan Kim (Dr. Lee), Tony Acierto (Marcus), Jeff Austin (Randall), Terry Beaver (Newcomer Cop), Lisa Donaldson Bowman (Miranda), Jade Calegory (Mark), George Cheung (Rowdy #2), Gus Corrado (Linen Manager), Robert Allan Curtis (Salvage Manager), Trevor Edmond (Blentu), John William Evans (Vagrant), Brooks Anne Hayes (Receptionist), Marco Hernandez (Tito), Kevin Hurley (Second Streetperson), John Kirby (Supporter), Aaron Lustig (Amos N. Andy), Melora Marshall (Woman Purist), Joe Mays (Informant), Richard Mehana (Dr. Hurwitz), Martha Melinda (First Streetperson), Catherine Paolone (Diane), John Patrick Reger (Ramna), Bert Rosario (Bernardo), Andrea Stein (Homeowner), Tiere Turner (Black Kid), Steve Vandeman (Rowdy #1), Ed Williams (Newcomer), Biff Yeager (The Man)

Notes: The two-hour pilot of Alien Nation is distinctly different in tone from the rest of the series, and makes many major changes from the story established in the film of the same name. Writer/director Kenneth Johnson enlisted the help of several people he had worked with on V, including composer Joe Harnell and actors Diane Civita and Evan Kim. Alien Nation has another connection with Johnson’s earlier work: the basic premise of Alien Nation, minus the characters, was intended to be the premise of the (never produced) season season of V, which would have seen the alien Visitors withdraw from Earth en masse, except for at least one ship which crashed on Earth, its complement of reptilian Visitors forced to become an underclass in a storyline that would’ve commented on Apartheid. This is the only episode in which Sikes is seen to smoke, though that may have been an attempt to stay “in character” as a street bum.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 03 Star Trek The Next Generation

Evolution

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 43125.8: While the crew of the Enterprise races against the clock to launch a space probe for a critical experiment, a culture of experimental microbe-machines accidentally released by Wesley threatens to render the Enterprise uninhabitable.

Season 3 Regular Cast: Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Commander Riker), LeVar Burton (Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge), Michael Dorn (Lt. Worf), Gates McFadden (Dr. Crusher), Marina Sirtis (Counselor Troi), Brent Spiner (Lt. Commander Data), Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher)

Order the DVDsteleplay by Michael Piller
story by Michael Piller and Michael Wagner
directed by Winrich Kolbe
music by Ron Jones

Guest Cast: Ken Jenkins (Dr. Paul Stubbs), Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan), Mary McCusker (Nurse), Randal Patrick (Crewman #1)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Blackadder Season 4

Captain Cook

BlackadderCaptain Edmund Blackadder, serving on the front lines of World War I, suspects that he and his men, Lieutenant George and Private Baldrick, are about to be sent on a suicide mission. When a call comes from General Melchett looking for an artist to inspire the troops for the big push, Edmund sees it as an opportunity to get out of the trenches. But once he gets the assignment, Edmund realizes there’s more to it than he was led to believe…

Season 4 Regular Cast: Rowan Atkinson (Captain Edmund Blackadder), Tony Robinson (Private S Baldrick), Stephen Fry (General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett), Hugh Laurie (Lieutenant The Honourable George Colthurst St. Barleigh), Tim McInnerny (Captain Kevin Darling)

Order the DVDswritten by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton
directed by Richard Boden
music by Howard Goodall

Guest Cast: none

Notes: No explanation is given as to how the Blackadder line has fallen again despite the previous series ending with Edmund assuming the identity of the Prince Regent, and so presumably ruling England as King George IV. This Edmund may simply be descended from a different line than the lead character of Blackadder the Third.

This is the first series to feature absolutely no new additions to the cast. The entire regular cast had appeared as regulars in one or more previous series.

In keeping with the claustrophobic nature of life in the trenches, Blackadder Goes Forth features fewer guest appearances than any other Blackadder series.

LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey

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Red Dwarf Season 03

Backwards

Red DwarfWhilst giving Kryten flight lessons in the Starbug vehicle, Rimmer and the hapless mechanoid wind up diving into some kind of time and dimension warp, arriving in a strangely different late 20th-century Earth. On this Earth, everything moves backwards – and Rimmer and Kryten are forced to use the novelty of being “forward” to land a job at a nightclub. Lister and Cat manage to track the others down, only to find by now that they’ve actually gotten to like the idea of watching ancient history unfold…or as the case may be, watching it fold.

Season 3 Regular Cast: Chris Barrie (Rimmer), Craig Charles (Lister), Danny John-Jules (Cat), Robert Llewellyn (Kryten), Hattie Hayridge (Holly)

Order the DVDswritten by Rob Grant & Doug Naylor
directed by Ed Bye
music by Howard Goodall

Guest Cast: Maria Friedman (Waitress), Tony Hawks (Compere), Anna Palmer (Customer in Cafe), Arthur Smith (Pub Manager)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 26 Doctor Who

Survival

Doctor WhoThe Doctor brings Ace to present-day Perivale to visit her friends, but she discovers that most of them have gone missing. Perivale is now a tense place where parents fear for their children’s lives and Sergeant Paterson teaches self-defense classes in hopes that the residents of Perivale can help themselves when the time comes. Unusually vicious black cats stalk the streets, marking their territory in the deadliest ways. When Ace joins the ranks of the other missing teenagers, the Doctor follows her, finding himself on the planet of the feral Cheetah People, a hostile world whose inherent violence infects all who go there. The Master has also somehow become trapped here, enslaved by the Cheetah People’s primitive bloodlust, and hoping to escape by using the new visitors from Perivale. The Doctor is left to face the dilemma: where is the Master more dangerous, on this alien world which will soon destroy itself, or running loose on Earth?

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Rona Munro
directed by Alan Wareing
music by Dominic Glynn

Doctor WhoCast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred, Anthony Ainley (The Master), Julian Holloway (Sergeant Paterson), Lisa Bowerman (Karra), Will Barton (Midge), Sakuntala Ramanee (Shreela), David John (Derek), Sean Oliver (Stuart), Gareth Hale (Harvey), Norman Pace (Len), Kate Eaton (Ange), Adele Silva (Squeak), Michelle Martin (Neighbor), Kathleen Bidmead (Woman)

Broadcast from November 22 through December 6, 1989

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Mystery Science Theater 3000 Season 01

Experiment #101: The Crawling Eye

Season 1
MST3K Story: Dr. Forrester is preparing for the week’s experiment when Dr. Erhardt rushes in, worried that he may have been followed. This upsets Dr. Forrester, as their experiment on Joel is meant to be kept a secret. When they contact him, Joel shows off his invention of an electric bagpipe, complete with renditions of Amazing Grace and Whole Lotta Love. Dr. Forrester is impressed, as it has caused Dr. Erhardt’s corneas to bleed. To counter, Dr. Forrester shows off a serum derived from the pineal gland of a dog, which, when injected into Dr. Erhardt, causes him to stop sweating (and start panting). Joel notices that the Mads have moved and is shocked to learn they are in Deep 13, far beneath Gizmonic Institute in a sub-basement. Joel says it’s incredibly radioactive down there, but the Mads “like it”. Dr. Forrester starts to make a big speech, but it’s time for the movie, so it’s cut short. After watching some of the film, the Bots are confused as to why the humans are so upset at the prospect of having their heads ripped off. Joel tries to explain, but the Bots just use it as an opportunity to play word games. Joel finds that Gypsy has uncoiled herself and her tubing is spread all over the Satellite of Love. Joel removes Gypsy’s eye and waves it around to show her what a mess she made, but it doesn’t help and she’s got an itch. Joel and the Bots try to figure out which bit is Gypsy and which is just part of the solar collector cable. After the “eye creatures” are finally seen, the Bots decide that they find Forrest Tucker more frightening, but Joel tries to explain why gigantic, free-roaming body parts are much scarier (but to little success). At the end of the movie, Joel gives the Bots answer questions for RAM chips and even Gypsy gets one, despite the fact that the best answer she can come up with to any question is “Richard Basehart”. Joel and the Bots don’t really have anything good to say about the movie, and that makes the Mads very happy.

The Crawling Eye Story:The film opens in Trollenberg, following a trio of mountain climbers, one of whom is brutally attacked by an unknown assailant. An investigator, Alan Brooks, is called in and on the way meets two sisters, Anne and Sarah Pilgrim. They are entertainers (they have a psychic act) and are traveling for Anne’s health. But Anne has an uncontrollable urge to stay in Trollenberg and so they book a room in the local hotel. Brooks, meanwhile, meets up with Professor Crevett, an old friend who contacted him due to the similarities between the Trollenberg case and a previous one they had seen in the Andes; an unusual fog that has encompassed the mountain. Anne suffers a strange seemingly psychic attack while she and her sister are performing and it seems to have some effect on the fog. When communication to the resting cabin is lost, several locals and Brooks head up the mountain. This causes Anne to have visions in her sleep that convince her she must ascend the mountain, but she is stopped by Brooks. Brett, one of the missing men, returns from the mountain, but is distracted and acts strangely. Brooks immediately suspects something, and when Brett attacks Anne, Brooks knocks him to the ground. However, no blood comes out of a wound to the head Brett suffers and he easily shakes off a sedative, trying again to kill Anne later that night. Brooks is forced to shoot him and Brett’s body disintegrates. Brooks decides to move everyone to the Observatory which is higher on the mountain, but more easily fortified against attack. This move proves timely, as the creatures invade the lodge, going after a little girl who had gone back to get a lost ball. The creatures are gigantic, tentacled, amorphous beings, each with a single, gigantic eye at their center. Brooks rescues the girl and the last of the guests and villagers escape. But one becomes infected and Anne is once again under attack, but is once again rescued. Brooks and Co. finally try to go on the offensive, attempting to use fire against the creatures, which seem to be attracted to cold. Fire bombs seem to work and Brooks is finally able to get through to the authorities, who bomb the fog cloud, killing the creatures and bringing the crisis to an end.

MST3K segments written by Trace Beaulieu, Joel Hodgson, Jim Mallon, Kevin Murphy, Mike Nelson & Josh Weinstein
MST3K segments director unknown

The Crawling Eye written by Jimmy Sangster from a story by Peter Key
The Crawling Eye directed by Quentin Lawrence
The Crawling Eye music by Stanley Black

Season 1 Regular Cast: Joel Hodgson (Joel Robinson), Trace Beaulieu (Crow T. Robot / Dr. Clayton Forrester), Josh Weinstein (Tom Servo / Dr. Laurence Erhardt), Jim Mallon (Gypsy)

MST3K Guest Cast: None

The Crawling Eye Cast: Forrest Tucker (Alan Brooks), Laurence Payne (Philip Truscott), Jennifer Jayne (Sarah Pilgrim), Janet Munro (Anne Pilgrim), Warren Mitchell (Professor Crevett), Andrew Faulds (Brett), Stuart Saunders (Dewhurst), Frederick Schiller (Mayor Klein), Colin Douglas (Hans)

LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey.

Categories
Season 04 Star Trek The Next Generation

The Best Of Both Worlds Part II

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 44001.4: The main deflector dish has no effect on the Borg because, having assimilated Picard and converted him into their spokesman, Locutus, the Borg know now every strategy and contingency that Picard had been informed of before his kidnapping. Riker is promoted to Captain by Admiral Hanson, who then leads a fleet of 40 starships to Wolf 359 to confront the Borg, but the fleet’s efforts are in vain – every starship is annihilated. Riker orders a cunning attack consisting of awkward strategies that Picard would never have carried out or expected, and an away team kidnaps Locutus and returns him to the Enterprise. Data then links up to Locutus to access the Borg communication network, and every approach he takes to disarm the Borg down fails until the Borg arrive at Earth to begin their domination of the Federation. Data triggers the Borg regeneration process, putting every Borg to “sleep,” but this also triggers the self-destruction of the Borg ship. Picard is freed from the Borg, Shelby returns to Starfleet to rebuild the fleet, and Riker remains on the Enterprise to continue serving as first officer. However, staring out the window of his ready room, Picard’s face indicates that all is not well…

Season 4 Regular Cast: Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Commander Riker), LeVar Burton (Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge), Michael Dorn (Lt. Worf), Gates McFadden (Dr. Crusher), Marina Sirtis (Counselor Troi), Brent Spiner (Lt. Commander Data), Wil Wheaton (Ensign Wesley Crusher)

Click here to watch a video previewOrder the DVDswritten by Michael Piller
directed by Cliff Bole
music by Ron Jones

Guest Cast: Elizabeth Dennehy (Lt. Commander Shelby), George Murdock (Admiral Hanson), Colm Meaney (O’Brien), Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan), Todd Merrill (Gleason)

Notes: Of course, it was not even thought of at the time of this episode’s production, but one of the very few survivors of the Borg attack at Wolf 359 later turns up in his own series: Commander Sisko of Deep Space Nine, the premiere episode of which features scenes of the battle between the Borg and the Federation that was mentioned in this episode.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Quantum Leap Season 3

The Leap Home

Quantum LeapSam finds himself back home in Elk Ridge, Indiana – not living someone else’s life, but for once, reliving his own youth. In the days leading up to Thanksgiving and a major high school basketball game whose outcome would define some of his classmates’ lives, Sam has an opportunity – according to Al – to change the outcome of that game. But Sam sees other outcomes in much more urgent need of changing, such as trying to introduce his father to a healthier lifestyle so he won’t die in 1972, and trying to prevent his older brother, Tom, from shipping out to Vietnam. Uncharacteristically, Sam boldly announces that he has seen the future, and he knows what will happen…but far from convincing his family that he’s right, all this does is convince them that he’s crazy.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Donald P. Bellisario
directed by Joe Napolitano
music by Velton Ray Bunch

Quantum LeapCast: Scott Bakula (Dr. Sam Beckett / John Beckett), Dean Stockwell (Al), David Newsom (Tom Beckett), Olivia Burnette (Katie Beckett), Hannah Cutrona (Mary Lou), Mai-Lis Kuniholm (Lisa Parsons), Caroline Kava (Thelma Beckett), Mik Scriba (Coach Donnelly), Niles Brewster (Dr. Berger), Matthew John Graeser (Herky), Ethan Wilson (Sibby), John L. Tuell (No Nose Pruitt), Adam Affonso (young Sam)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Red Dwarf Season 04

Camille

Red DwarfThe Old, Old Story: Lister tries once again to teach Kryten to rebel, with only momentary success, though it is promising. Kryten pilots Starbug as he and Rimmer go exploring. When a distress call arrives from someone on a doomed planet, Rimmer decides it’s too dangerous to investigate, but Kryten thinks better of it – and why not, he reflects, when Rimmer’s such a smee heee? Kryten finds a female mechanoid in a grounded spacecraft, and he’s instantly ass-over-nipple-nuts in love. Curiously, when Kryten brings Camille back to Starbug (which she warns him not to do), Rimmer sees a beautiful hologram who can actually stand to be stuck in the same ship with him. Naturally, when Camille is introduced to Lister on Red Dwarf, he sees Kochanski. Cat also sees Camille as a life form with the sexiest body he can imagine – his own. Camille is a pleasure GELF, a genetically engineered life-form who changes its form to please its users, and expects to earn the crew’s scorn. Kryten decides to still be Camille’s friend, despite her true amorphous appearance.

Season 4 Regular Cast: Chris Barrie (Rimmer), Craig Charles (Lister), Danny John-Jules (Cat), Robert Llewellyn (Kryten), Hattie Hayridge (Holly)

Order the DVDswritten by Rob Grant & Doug Naylor
directed by Ed Bye
music by Howard Goodall

Guest Cast: Judy Pascoe (Mechanoid Camille), Francesca Folan (Hologram Camille), Suzanne Rhatigan (Kochanski Camille), Rupert Bates (Hector Blob)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Land Of The Lost Remake Season 1

Tasha

Land Of The LostExploring while on vacation, the Porter family is deposited into another world after their truck plunges into a rift in the ground during a huge earthquake. The presence of three moons in the night sky is their first clue that they’re no longer on Earth, and yet the jungle world is populated by dinosaurs straight out of Earth’s prehistoric age.

The Porter family, safe in their newly built treehouse, is awakened by the sound of dinosaurs battling it out nearby. In the morning, Annie and Kevin go to collect water, finding a nest of destroyed dinosaur eggs, and a dead dinosaur – the mother who laid the eggs died trying to protect her young from a tyrannousaurus. Annie finds an intact egg in the nearby brush and they take it back to the treehouse. It hatches overnight, and Annie christens the baby dino Tasha: much to Kevin’s chagrin, Tasha is here to stay. When the same tyrannosaurus attacks the Porter family, they’ve got a defense plan inspired by Tasha… and no guarantee that it’ll work.

Land Of The Lostwritten by Len Janson & Chuck Menville
directed by Ernest Farino
music by Kevin Kiner

Cast: Timothy Bottoms (Tom Porter), Jennifer Drugan (Annie Porter), Robert Gavin (Kevin Porter), Ed Gale (Tasha), Danny Mann (voice of Tasha)

Notes: The baby dinosaur is named Natasha after the kids’ mother; it’s implied in dialogue that Natasha Porter is deceased. Composer Kevin Kiner would go on to co-compose the scores for several episodes of Stargate SG-1 and Star Trek: Enterprise with Dennis McCarthy, before moving on to the computer-animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

LogBook entry by Earl Green