Day: February 13, 2008

Categories
8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Max Warp

Doctor Who: Max WarpThe Doctor and Lucie arrive at a live taping of the hit spacecraft hot-rodding show, Max Warp… just in time to see the show’s seasoned test driver plunge to his apparent death when he loses control of a Kith ship and it slams into a nearby moon. Immediately the Doctor is convinced that the ship was sabotaged, and its pilot murdered. He and Lucie split up to try to narrow down the list of suspects – and Lucie ends up with the unenviable task of going undercover as a new host of Max Warp, and while the regular hosts think she’s just providing something for the dads to watch, she’s trying to figure out of either of them is a killer. The Doctor focuses on the intrigue between the humans and the Kith, who exist in an uneasy truce, with some on both sides ready to resume a state of war. An assassination attempt on the contentious Kith ambassador may be the last straw before shots are fired… until the Doctor realizes that something else has been happening all along.

Order this CDwritten by Jonathan Morris
directed by Barnaby Edwards
music by ERS

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Sheridan Smith (Lucie Miller), Graeme Garden (Geoffrey Vantage), James Fleet (O’Reilley), Duncan James (Timbo), Nick Brimble (The Kith), Samantha Hughes (President Varlon), Katarina Olsson (Judd Gilbride)

Timeline: after Dead London and before Brave New Town

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
Clone Wars Season 1 Star Wars

Blue Shadow Virus

The Clone WarsLearning that battle droids have been located on Naboo, Padmé Amidala and Jar Jar Binks return to investigate. They discover that the deadly Blue Shadow Virus has been recreated by Dr. Nuvo Vindi, who intends to unleash it on Naboo, but are captured before they can return with the information. Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka arrive on the planet and must balance the immediate danger of the captives with the greater danger of the virus.

written by Craig Titley
directed by Giancarlo Volpe
original Star Wars themes by John Williams

Cast: Catherine Taber (Padmé Amidala), Jameelah McMillan (Queen Neeyutnee), James Mathis III (Captain Typho), BJ Hughes (Jar Jar Binks), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Phil LaMarr (Tactical Droid), Tom Kane (Yoda / Narrator), Gwendoline Yeo (Peppi Bow), Michael York (Dr. Nuvo Vindi), Matthew Wood (Battle Droids), David Acord (Rabbit Droid), Matt Lanter (Anakin Skywalker), James Arnold Taylor (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka Tano), Dee Bradley Baker (Captain Rex)

LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey

Categories
Clone Wars Season 1 Star Wars

Mystery Of A Thousand Moons

The Clone WarsAnakin and Obi-Wan have taken into custody the evil Dr. Nuvo Vindi, creator of the deadly Blue Shadow Virus. But as Padmé, Jar Jar and Ahsoka oversee cleanup, they realize that a vial of the deadly substance has gone missing. An explosion releases the virus inside Vindi’s compound, infecting some inside, including Ahsoka. The Republic forces must prevent the remaining battle droids from releasing the virus onto the planet. Anakin and Obi-Wan, meanwhile, undertake a mission to obtain the antidote from the planet Iago before the virus takes its toll.

written by Brian Larsen
directed by Jesse Yeh
music by Kevin Kiner / original Star Wars themes by John Williams

Cast: Matt Lanter (Anakin Skywalker), James Arnold Taylor (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Dee Bradley Baker (Commander Cody / Captain Rex), Catherine Taber (Padmé Amidala / Angel), Michael York (Dr. Nuvo Vindi), Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka Tano), James Mathis III (Captain Typho), Matthew Wood (Battle Droids), David Kaufman (Jaybo Hood), BJ Hughes (Jar Jar Binks), Phil LaMarr (Amit Noloff), Tom Kane (Narrator)

LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey

Categories
Battlestar Galactica (New Series) Season 4

No Exit

Battlestar GalacticaIn the wake of the Zarek/Gaeta mutiny, the first priority aboard Galactica is trying to patch up the scores of wounded – and preparing to bury the scores of the dead. Among the wounded is Sam Anders, shot in the back of the head during his own jailbreak; when he recovers from his surgery, he asks Starbuck to summon his fellow members of the final five: he has had a vision and remembers everything. President Roslin has pieces of her own to pick up, as she appoints Lee the new vice president, charging him with the formation of a new Quorum and advising him that he’ll have to do much of the work in keeping the government together now. Sam’s visions, as he relates them to the other Cylons, involve life on Earth (and the end of it), and even further back: ancient Cylon history, a power struggle between the Cylons’ creator (the woman that Tigh knew as his wife, Ellen) and a dissident who wanted to return the Cylons to their mechanical nature (Brother Cavel). When she resurrected aboard a Cylon ship after her execution on New Caprica, Ellen was virtually held prisoner by Cavel, until he needed her knowledge of resurrection after the Colonial destruction of the Cylons’ resurrection hub…at which point, Cavel decided to skip any kind of negotiation or interrogation, opting instead to kill Ellen and retrieve the knowledge from her brain. Before Sam can remember much more, though, Doc Cottle insists that the bullet should be removed from his brain, and over the objections of the other Cylons, Starbuck readily agrees. Sam is given until the moment the anesthesia takes hold in the operating room to continue relating his visions. And at the same time, Tyrol has bad news for Admiral Adama: after the years of fighting, rushed repair jobs, and corners that were cut back when the keel was first laid for the ship, Galactica is nearing the end of her time as a spaceworthy vessel.

written by Ryan Mottesheard
directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton
music by Bear McCreary

Guest Cast: Michael Hogan (Colonel Tigh), Aaron Douglas (Tyrol), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Michael Trucco (Anders), Kate Vernon (Ellen Tigh), Donnelly Rhodes (Doc Cottle), Rekha Sharma (Tory Foster), Dean Stockwell (Cavel), John Hodgman (Dr. Gerard), Kerry Norton (Nurse Layne Ishay), Darcy Laurie (Deklind)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Picard Season 1 Star Trek

Absolute Candor

Star Trek: Picard2385: Admiral Picard’s convoy of transports delivers the latest round of Romulan refugees to the desert planet Vashti, a quarter of a million Romulans who immediately find the aid of the Qowat Milat sisterhood of Romulan warrior nuns. A young Romulan boy, Elnor, lives among the nuns, eagerly awaiting Picard’s next visit, though both Picard and the nuns know that a more suitable home will have to be found for Elnor soon. While he is on the surface, Picard receives word of the sneak attack on Mars, and must beam up immediately to find out how the event will impact the Romulan evacuation effort.

2399: En route to Freecloud, a lawless outpost where Bruce Maddox is believed to be hiding, Picard wants La Sirena to make a stop at the Romulan refugee world Vashti, where he hopes to convince one of the warrior nuns – if their order still exists – to join him on his mission as security. He’s disturbed to find that, without Federation aid, the Romulan colony has descended into poverty and disorder, with a new and violent form of Romulan nationalism gaining ground among the locals. The Qowat Milat order is still acting as a force for good on Vashti, and Elnor – now older and a wielder of his own sword – still lives among them. But like Rafi before him, Elnor is upset that Picard suddenly stopped coming to Vashti, and that the Federation’s rescue efforts ceased shortly thereafter. No longer confident that he can find a protector here, Picard prepares to leave Vashti, but he has been recognized by the locals, some of whom would be happy to make sure he doesn’t leave Vashti alive – at least until Elnor intervenes, having decided to help Picard after all. But they are no safer aboard La Sirena, which is under attack by a 23rd century Romulan Bird of Prey flown by the local warlord. Even in space, though, help comes from an unlikely source.

Order DVDswritten by Michael Chabon
directed by Jonathan Frakes
music by Jeff Russo

Star Trek: PicardCast: Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), Isa Briones (Dr. Soji Asha), Evan Evagora (Elnor), Michelle Hurd (Rafi Musiker), Santiago Cabrera (Captain Cristobal Rios), Harry Treadaway (Narek), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Peyton List (Narissa), Amirah Vann (Zani), Rebecca Wisocky (Ramdha), Ian Nunney (young Elnor), Evan Parke (Tenqem Adrev), Erik Alvarez (Refugee #1), Willow Geer (Kibitzer #2), Djamel Hamdad (Refugee #2), Ken Lyle (Fruit Vendor), Linda Nile (Kibitzer #3), Ciro Suarez (Kibitzer #1), Heather Wynters (Shai)

Star Trek: PicardNotes: This is the first appearance of Seven of Nine since the Star Trek: Voyager series finale, Endgame (2001), though very little of what has happened to her between Endgame and this episode is known. (Though a series of novels expanded on the crew of Voyager after their return to Earth, the Star Trek novels are notorious for being invalidated by later TV and film projects.) During writing and pre-production of the film Star Trek: Nemesis (2002), Paramount Pictures executives wanted Seven written into that movie’s storyline, though ultimately, Jeri Ryan was uninterested in reprising the role at that time, so the character was dropped from the story. It’s unknown what role she would have played in Nemesis, or if it would have precluded how the character of Seven is utilized in this series.

LogBook entry by Earl Green