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Astronauts Season 2

Episode 13

AstronautsOn the morning of the crew’s return to Earth, Mattocks receives a personal message from his wife Valerie. As Ackroyd and Foster continue to worry about whether or not their commander, still flush with newfound religious enthusiasm, is in any kind of mental state to fly them home, Mattocks proceeds to fall apart. The private message was an admission that Valerie has been less than faithful during Mattocks’ six month stay in space. Can Beadle convince the astronauts to return when all three of them are now convinced that they have nothing left on the ground with living for?

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), Mary Healey (Valerie), and Bimbo (himself)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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1980s Series V

The Return

V (1980s series)Donovan and Julie’s resistance cell is cornered, outgunned, and outnumbered: escape is unlikely, if not impossible. But salvation comes from an unlikely source: all of the Visitors on Earth are recalled to their motherships immediately, and hostilities are called off. Philip announces that the Visitors’ Supreme Leader has arrived, and desires a truce and a meeting with Elizabeth. The sudden cease-fire only reinforces Diana’s distaste for peace. Philip and Donovan agree to a demonstration of fencing – Visitor-style – but they also agree to disarm the swords’ supercharged blades. Diana tries to sabotage the truce by arming the swords by remote control, but the first time one of the swords slices into part of the training area, the two swordsmen put down their weapons. She hasn’t done away with either of her enemies, and worse yet, Diana now has to plan to assassinate not just Philip, but her race’s supreme leader.

telelplay by David Abramowitz & Donald R. Boyle
story by David Braff & Colley Cibber
directed by John Florea
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Judson Scott (James), Frank Ashmore (Philip), Marilyn Jones (Thelma), Ashton Wise (V Lieutenant), Tawny Schneider (herself)

VNotes: The Leader’s ability to communicate to and through Elizabeth may be the inspiration for the “bliss” effect used by Visitor leader Anna in ABC’s 21st century remake of V – a slight irony, since this was the final episode of the original V. This episode was written with a cliffhanger that has never been resolved on television or in other media.

During the scene of the arrival of the Leader’s shuttle, series composer Dennis McCarthy uses a musical theme that’s almost identical to the one he later employed for the arrival of “Judge” Q in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes Encounter At Farpoint and All Good Things…

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Star Cops TV Series

Little Green Men and Other Martians

Star CopsAn old friend of Kenzy’s – a journalist with a nose for both news and booze – arrives on the moonbase, and while their old rivalry survives intact, Kenzy grudgingly admits to her fellow Star Cops that he doesn’t show up without a solid story to chase. Spring doesn’t warm to this visitor at all, especially not when Krivenko is welcoming a visiting dignitary of such importance that he requires a cover story. The destruction of a supply shuttle and its pilot tips Spring’s team off to a drug smuggling operation that’s cooking its drugs on the moon and quietly shipping to Earth. And a momentous discovery on Mars has the entire scientific community on edge – have artifacts of an ancient civilization been discovered there, and is that discovery enough to make someone turn to murder?

In the meantime, everyone from the press to his own team is trying to find out what Nathan Spring’s next move is, as he prepares to set up a Martian bureau of the Star Cops – assuming he survives the increasingly dangerous case of the supposedly Martian artifact…

written by Chris Boucher
directed by Graeme Harper
music by Justin Hayward & Tony Visconti

Cast: David Calder (Nathan Spring), Linda Newton (Pal Kenzy), Trevor Cooper (Colin Devis), Jonathan Adams (Alexander Krivenko), Sayo Inaba (Dr. Anna Shoun), Roy Holder (Daniel Larwood), Nigel Hughes (Andrew Philpot), Lachelle Carl (Susan Caxton), Wendy MacAdam (Operations Manager), Bridget Lynch-Blosse (Co-Pilot), Kenneth Lodge (Pilot), Peter Neathey (Customs Officer), Philip Rowlands (Outpost Controller), David Janes (Surveryor)

Original title: Information Received

Notes: Theroux is absent for this episode, as Erick Ray Evans was ill during filming. Actress Lachelle Carl, playing another reporter in this episode, later carved out quite the “fictional science fiction journalist” role for herself in the Doctor Who universe, playing an American anchorwoman in the revived Doctor Who series (starting with the early episode Aliens Of London), and then reprising the same character in spinoffs Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. Bridget Lynch-Blosse also has a Doctor Who connection, though it predates Star Cops: she appeared in a guest starring role in 1985’s Revelation Of The Daleks, which was also directed by Graeme Harper. This was the final episode of Star Cops; though the build-up to the establishment of a Martian bureau was intended to lead into a second season, producer Evgeny Gridneff and series creator Chris Boucher had locked horns often enough over the course of the first season that Boucher raised few objections when the low-rated series came to an end.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Knights Of God

Episode 13

Knights Of GodJulia is barely able to stop Gervase from committing suicide (per Mordrin’s conditioning), though what breaks that conditioning is Julia accidentally putting her own life at risk. Gervase saves her, and with the aid of the monks, they set out for Anglia to put Gervase on the throne. Somehow aware that Gervase’s conditioning has been broken, Mordrin finally goes insane, and prepares to install himself as King. Gervase and Julia arrive, now accompanied by Arthur, Owen, Julia’s father, and the combined force of resistance fighters and many former Knights of God who no longer follow either Hugo or Mordrin. As Gervase is declared King in a live radio broadcast, Hugo’s forces strike at the heart of Mordrin’s headquarters; the two remaining factions of Knights and the resistance fight a massive three-way battle on those grounds. Owen is mortally wounded by Hugo, but Mordrin kills Hugo and tries to escape, crown in hand, still planning his own ascension to the throne until he’s killed by the dying Owen. With both of their leaders fallen, the Knights scatter or surrender. Arthur crowns Gervase and tasks him with ruling more wisely than those who have perished.

Knights Of Godwritten by Richard Cooper
directed by Andrew Morgan
music by Christopher Gunning

Cast: George Winter (Gervase), Claire Parker (Julia), John Woodvine (Mordrin), Nigel Stock (Simon), Julian Fellowes (Hugo), Frank Middlemass (Father Gregory), Patrick Troughton (Arthur), Gareth Thomas (Owen), Shirley Stelfox (Beth), Barrie Cookson (Brigadier Clarke), Michael Sheard (Doctor), Peter Childs (Tyrell), Dean Harris (Brother Dean), Owen Teale (Dai)

Knights Of GodNotes: Brigadier Clarke broadcasts Gervase’s speech on “Radio 3 Britain” (though it’s almost certainly due to the series airing on ITV, there’s an easy story justification for this, as the BBC likely didn’t survive the civil war). The end credit music is different for this episode, as is the flowing flag in the background of the credits: for the previous 12 episodes, the Knights of God flag has flown during the credits, while the British Union Jack appears here, accompanied by more triumphant, less oppressive music.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Blackadder Season 4

Goodbyeee

BlackadderThe time has come at last for the “Big Push” and Edmund tries every trick in the book to get out of it. But General Melchett is wise to Edmund’s plans and there really doesn’t seem to be any way out this time…

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

Guest Cast: Geoffrey Palmer (Field Marshal Haig)

Notes: Geoffrey Palmer is a mainstay of British comedies, appearing in diverse projects such as The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, Whoops! Apocalypse, and As Time Goes By. He also appeared in the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies and with Rowan Atkinson in the Full Throttle episode of Heroes and Villains.

Goodbyeee was named the most popular episode of all Blackadder series by the registered members of the BBCi web site. It was also voted the most popular final episode of any TV series by a 2004 BBCi poll.

LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey

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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

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Dark Season

Episode 6

Dark SeasonThe Behemoth battle computer, with Miss Pendragon in its clutches, bursts through the floor of the school and locks the outside doors. Mr. Eldritch arrives to give Behemoth its instructions to destroy the entire world and the human race with it, but Marcie challenges that order, forcing Eldritch into a bizarre debate about the merits and foibles of humanity, leaving Behemoth’s own artificial intelligence to decide the fate of the world.

Dark Seasonwritten by Russell T. Davies
directed by Colin Cant
music by David Ferguson

Cast: Martina Berne (Inga), Ben Chandler (Thomas), Marsha Fitzalan (voice of Behemoth), Brigit Forsyth (Miss Maitland), Victoria Lambert (Marcie), Grant Parsons (Mr. Eldritch), Jacqueline Pearce (Miss Pendragon), Kate Winslet (Reet)

Notes: Russell T. Davies would later reuse the exchange “Stay where you are!” “Where am I gonna go, Ipswich?” in the 2005 Doctor Who episode The End Of The World. Jacqueline Pearce is, of course, best known as the recurring arch-nemesis of Blake’s 7, Supreme Commander Servalan. Davies later wrote a novelization of Dark Season which hinted at a third storyline, involving a video arcade, but that story never materialized, either on television or the printed page.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Space Rangers

Fort Hope

Space RangersIn the year 2104, Fort Hope is the most distant human outpost in deep space. A peacekeeping force called the Space Rangers struggles to maintain law and order on the frontier, all while tiptoing around treaties and delicate political situations. The job isn’t easy, and it is dangerous. Only the best need apply. Space Ranger John Boon is about to begin two months’ leave when Commander Chennault calls him back into action. A human ship has been forced down on the contested planet Scarab, and launching a rescue mission will violate numerous treaties; Chennault can’t offer any backup because she has to maintain deniability. Worse yet, one of the downed ship’s crew is Boon’s mentor.

Boon rounds up his crew, including a wet-behind-the-ears hotshot, Daniel Kincaid, whose bravado melts away when he sees the state of Boon’s transport. Ship’s engineer “Doc” delights in rattling Kincaid prior to launch; pilot Jojo’s rough flying and the presence of a Graaka warrior named Zylyn rattle him even more. Upon arrival at Scarab, Boon’s crew has to fight off an attack by space-borne marauders called Banshees. Once on the surface of Scarab, Boon realizes that the “rescue” was a trap all along.

Space Rangersteleplay by Pen Densham & M. Jay Roach
story by Pen Densham
directed by Mikael Salomon
music by Hans Zimmer & Mark Mancina

Cast: Jeff Kaake (Captain John Boon), Marjorie Monaghan (Jojo), Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Zylyn), Jack McGee (Doc), Clint Howard (Mimmer), Danny Quinn (Daniel), Gottfried John (Weiss), Linda Hunt (Chennault), Wings Hauser (Decker), Amy Steel (Sarah Boon), Sally Elise Richardson (Survivor), Art La Fleur (Henchman), Pat Morita (Nazzer), Danielle Zuckerman (Roxie Boon), Gary Lee Davis (Thick Neck), Thomas Rosales (Gambler), Dan Zukovick (Arran)

Notes: Co-writer Jay Roach (sometimes credited with an M. in front of his name) has previously worked with series creator Pen Densham on a Fox sci-fi TV movie, Lifepod, early in 1993, and was at one time attached to direct a movie version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, working closely with Douglas Adams through most of the 1990s until he got involved with his next big project, directing Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery and its sequels. Roach went on to even greater success directing Meet The Parents and its sequel, Meet The Fockers.

Though this was the series pilot, it was the last episode to air in the U.S.; CBS cancelled Space Rangers after four weeks due to low ratings. Two episodes were left unaired, premiering abroad and only appearing on home video in the U.S. Although he appears in the opening credits, Weiss does not appear in this episode.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Century Falls

Episode Six

Century FallsTime is running out. The only two people not taken over by Julia are Tess Hunter, Esme Harkness, and Esme’s elderly mother. Even Tess’ mother is willingly going with the rest of the villagers to the burned-out ruins of the temple, where Naismith’s plan to bring Century into being could finally come true, four decades after the last attempt had such tragic consequences. Upon learning that Esme’s willpower is being boosted by her mother, Julia sends Richard Naismith to kill the defenseless old woman. Tess goes to the temple, finding that all of the villagers’ psychic abilities are being harnessed to revive Century and direct it into its new host – Tess’ unborn sibling, and her mother as well. Nothing short of a miracle will keep Century Falls’ tragic history from repeating itself.

written by Russell T. Davies
directed by Colin Cant
music by David Ferguson

Century FallsCast: Heather Baskerville (Mrs. Hunter), Catherine Sanderson (Tess Hunter), Mary Wimbush (Esme Harkness), Tatiana Strauss (Julia), Georgine Anderson (May Harkness), Ronald Herdman (Ted Wayland), Danny Schiller (Jack Fretwell), Eileen Way (Alice Harkness), Bernard Kay (Richard Naismith), Simon Fenton (Ben Naismith), Emma Jane Lavin (Carey Naismith), Beryl Cooke (Miss Cooper), Jennifer Harris (Little Girl), Alex Mollo (Ashe), Donna Fawthorp (young Esme), Robert James (Dr. Josiah Naismith)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 07 Star Trek The Next Generation

All Good Things…

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate not applicable (prehistory): On the planet Earth, the crucial moment in which life is sparked in primeval chemicals fails to occur. The planet remains uninhabited and the human race never comes into existence.

Stardate 41148: A vaguely disoriented Captain Jean-Luc Picard arrives aboard the starship Enterprise to take command, shortly after which he suddenly orders a red alert. After this incident passes, he issues a number of inexplicable orders, trying to deliberately bring about a meeting with an entity known as Q, and later setting the Enterprise on a fateful course for a spatial anomaly in the Devron system…

Stardate 47998.1: A very disoriented Captain Picard reports that he has been shifting from the present to two very specific points in the past and future – seven years ago when he first arrived aboard the Enterprise, and 25 years into the future. En route to the Neutral Zone to investigate a massing of Romulan forces near a spatial anomaly in the Devron system, Picard is accosted once more by Q, who finally pronounces the verdict of humankind’s trial which began at Farpoint – guilty.

Stardate unknown (the future): A retired Jean-Luc Picard, suffering from a degenerative neurological disorder, has settled in France to tend to the family vineyards. Geordi, now a writer, visits Picard, who complains of unsettling images from nearly three decades ago. In the course of tracking down the cause of Picard’s visions, nearly all of his old crewmates are recruited in the quest, made difficult by strained relations between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, as well as those among the crew. Their destination is the Devron system, where, to Picard’s surprise, there is no sign of the existence of a spatial anomaly. At the heart of Picard’s mystery lies the secret needed to restore the flow of human history.

Order the DVDswritten by Ronald D. Moore & Brannon Braga
directed by Winrich Kolbe
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: John de Lancie (Q), Denise Crosby (Lt. Tasha Yar), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), Andreas Katsulas (Tomalak), Clyde Kusatsu (Admiral Nakamura), Patti Yasutake (Nurse Ogawa), Pamela Kosh (Jessel), Tim Kelleher (Lt. Gaines), Alison Brooks (Ensign Chilton), Stephen Matthew Garvin (Ensign), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Nowhere Man

Gemini

Nowhere ManVeil finally has something to show for his quest, files which include a secret report written by an agent identified only as Gemini, as well as the unaltered original print of “Hidden Agenda” – showing the faces of the hanged men to be members of a Senate intelligence committee on domestic terrorism. Veil tracks down a surviving member of that committee, Senator Wallace, and reveals this information to him. He also learns that this committee strenuously opposed a bill that would have given the United States government’s intelligence agencies free reign in conducting surveillance of individual citizens. But before Veil can act further, his secret supporter is mysteriously transferred, and he discovers that he himself is not one man, but two – and one of those men is nowhere to be found.

Order the DVDswritten by Lawrence Hertzog and Art Monterastelli
directed by Stephen Stafford
music by Mark Snow

Cast: Bruce Greenwood (Thomas Veil), Hal Linden (Sentator William Wallace), Francis X. McCarthy (Robert Barton), Edward Edwards (Iverson)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Space: Above And Beyond

…Tell Our Moms We Done Our Best

Space: Above And BeyondThe war takes a turning point when a Chig ambassador arrives aboard the Saratoga, ready to talk about the possibility of peace. As the members of the 58th idly fantasize – or worry – about returning to peacetime life, the negotiations grow more intense. The survivors of the Tellus colony – Nathan West’s lover among them – become a bargaining chip, and are launched back toward Earth space. But when the talks break down and the war resumes, the Tellus colonists are now easy targets within easy reach of both Earth forces and the Chigs. West is determined to get there first, no matter the cost.

Order the DVDwritten by Glen Morgan & James Wong
directed by Vern Gillum
music by Shirley Walker

Guest Cast: Richard Fancy (E. Allen Wayne), Elliot Woods (Weapon specialist), Chris Ellis (Admiral Stenner), Steve Monroe (Engineer), Amanda Douge (Kylen), Marlon Chopper Young (Sentry), Harriet Sansom Harris (Diane Hayden), Lisa Talerico (Sgt. Parker), Don Pugsley (Colonel Rabwin), Amy Loubalu (Sentry #2), Reggie Hayes (Wallace), J. Patrick McCormack (Frank Shaffner), Tom Ayers (German Colonist), Derek Mark Lochran (Chig envoy), Christopher Boyer (Colonist), David Jean Thomas (General Alcott), Lawrence T. Wrentz (Sims), Robert Crow (Lt. Pruitt), Nilla Westerlund (Reporter)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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National Public Radio Star Wars

The Blood Of A Jedi

Return Of The Jedi NPR Radio DramaWith the help of the Ewoks, the Rebels overrun the shield generator, but they’re too late to help their own fleet – the Millennium Falcon and its fighter wings emerge from hyperspace into the waiting arms of the Imperial Fleet, as part of an elaborate plan by Palpatine. But the Empire hasn’t counted on the presence of the Ewoks, and the shield generator is destroyed by Solo and his commando group. Lando makes some desperate alterations to the battle plan, and still manages to lead the Rebels into the heart of the Death Star – but aboard that station, Luke Skywalker is fighting his own battle against the power of the dark side of the Force. He may destroy the Empire, save the Rebellion, free the galaxy and become the last of the Jedi – but Luke still may not be able to save his father in the process.

Order this CDwritten by Brian Daley
additional material by John Whitman
based on the screenplay Return Of The Jedi by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas
directed by John Madden
music by John Williams

See the first episode for cast information.

Notes: Produced many years after the two original NPR Star Wars adaptations, Return Of The Jedi was funded by Highbridge Audio primarily to produce a set of shows to fill out a planned CD box set; it was later offered to NPR. But the project’s for-profit nature precluded Mark Hamill’s involvement (Hamill had volunteered his time to act in the first two Star Wars radio shows), and the original CD-buying audience of already-indoctrinated fans envisioned for the project meant a slimming down of the number of episodes, and an assumption that certain elements – such as Jabba’s Huttese language – could be left intact from the films with no explanation or translation. Sadly, writer Brian Daley died of pancreatic cancer during the recording sessions.

Categories
From The Earth To The Moon

La Voyage Dans La Lune

From The Earth To The MoonStory: In 1902, French filmmaker George Melies begins working on a new movie in his Montreux studio – but instead of a documentary about famous locales in France, he decides to film a fantastic tale about men traveling to the moon, something which few of his actors consider more than a fanciful fiction. But some seventy years later, Apollo 17 – the last of the Apollo moon missions – has landed on the moon in December 1972, and astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt are performing the longest moonwalk in history. Melies’ spectacular movie about a trip to the moon was eventually procured and copied en masse by Thomas Edison, robbing the French director of even the slightest portion of his film’s financial rewards. And seven decades later, politics and safety concerns are about about to rob the world of another, even more precious, opportunity – the Apollo program of lunar exploration is about to end.

Order the DVDswritten by Tom Hanks
directed by Jonathan Mostow
music by Michael Kamen

Cast: Tom Amandes (Jack Schmitt), Bart Braverman (Older Sahjid), David Clyde Carr (Gerry Griffin), David Clennon (Lee Silver), Blythe Danner (Narrator), Chris Ellis (Bob Parker), Keith Flippen (Jason), Tom Hanks (Jean-Luc Despont), George Kapetan (Ed Fendel), Tcheky Saryo (George Melies), Daniel Hugh Kelly (Gene Cernan), Jason Khoury (Young Sahjid), Elizabeth Morehead (Tracy Cernan), Tim Parati (Blaisdell), J.C. Quinn (Special effects worker), Michael Roddy (Geologist), Stephen Root (Chris Kraft), Nick Searcy (Deke Slayton), Lane Smith (Emmett Seaborn)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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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