March 10, 2015 – Page 2 – theLogBook.com Episode Guides

Powers Season 1

Pilot

By theLogBook.com
March 10, 2015

Superpowers are real. Those who have them – known simply as Powers – operate on a different level of morality than “mere mortals”, though they themselves are perfectly mortal. Major metropolitan areas suffer serious damage from battles between real superheroes and supervillains, and subterranean prisons exist to house captured villains. Powers have celebrity status; young people with latern powers must choose how to use their abilities, often with little in the way of guidance.

Superpowers no longer exist for Detective Christian Walker. Now the head of the NYPD’s Powers Division, Walker was once a Power himself – a famous superhero known as Diamond. He lost his abilities in a battle with “Big Bad” Wolfe, who now languishes in a federal Powers containment facility. One of Walker’s superhero allies from his days as Diamond, Olympia, turns up dead, a victim of a designer drug that somehow modifies Power DNA. The drug was given to him by a girl named Calista, a “wannabe” who claims she has latent powers. Walker and his new partner, Deena Pilgrim, question the girl, but she vanishes from her interrogation room. Walker suspects one of his old enemies, Johnny Royale, is still on the move, though everyone else thinks Royale is dead. Walker tries to find Calista to learn more about the drug and to find out if Royale is involved, but he finds her on the brink of suicide, and in trying to stop her, he makes the fatal mistake of forgetting he himself is no longer a Power…

teleplay by Charlie Huston
based on the graphic novel by Michael Avon Oeming & Brian Michael Bendis
directed by David Slade
music by Jeff Rona

Cast: Sharlto Copley (Christian Walker), Susan Heyward (Detective Deena Pilgrim), Noah Taylor (Johnny Royale), Olesya Rulin (Calista), Adam Godley (Captain Cross), Max Fowler (Krispin Stockley), Michelle Forbes (Retro Girl), Eddie Izzard (Wolfe), Logan Browning (Zora), Claire Bronson (Candace Stockley), Aaron Farb (Simons), Justice Leak (Detective Kutter), David Ury (Dr. Death), Mario Lopez (himself), Phillip Devona (Zabriski), Daniel Thomas May (Bug), Adam Boyer (Olympia), Mickey Cole (Levitation Boy), Pete Burris (Adlard), Brian LaFontaine (Brian Stockley), Johnny Giacalone (Cancilarra), Brett Gentile (Argento), Leander Suleiman (Mack), Jeryl Prescott Sales (Golden), Linds Edwards (Zerotron X), Michael Beasley (Chaykin), Victor Turner (Supression Specialist), B.J. Winfrey (Shaft Guard), Dave Pileggi (Med Tech #1), Troy Brenna (Iron Impact), Sara Pagliocca (Porn Star)

Notes: Based on a series of comics first published in 2000 whose film/TV rights were optioned within a year of the publication of the first collected graphic novel edition, Powers took a long road to the screen. In 2011, filming began on a pilot with an earlier edition of the script (written by Brian Michael Bendis, writer of the comics) and a completely different cast, only to be turned down by cable network FX. A new cast (led by District 9 star Sharlto Copley) began shooting new scripts in 2014, with Bendis and fellow creator Michael Avon Oeming serving as executive producers. Rather than a traditional broadcast or cable outlet, Powers found a home as the first original series on the Playstation Network. Despite mixed reviews, viewership numbers were promising enough for Sony to greenlight a second season, to debut in 2016. You can read reviews of the original Powers graphic novels in our Book Reviews section, and you can also check out a lengthy multi-part interview with Brian Michael Bendis at Dave Thomer’s This Is Not News (part 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Powers Season 1

Like A Power

By theLogBook.com
March 10, 2015

Gravity is real. Instinctively jumping from the top of a building in an attempt to save Calista, Christian Walker forgets that he can no longer fly; fortunately, his old flame, jaded superhero Retro Girl, catches them both before they hit the ground. Retro Girl treats Walker to a rough landing on top of the building, but tries to take Calista under her wing to find out what’s going on. Walker’s new partner, Detective Deena Pilgrim, gets a rather electrifying taste of what it’s like to try to take down someone with superpowers. His existence – or at least his survival – outed, supervillain Johnny Royale goes public, registers with police as someone with superpowers, and makes sure that the inevitable confrontration with Walker caught on video…but Royale has worse things in mind for Walker than a mere lawsuit.

teleplay by Charlie Huston
based on the graphic novel by Michael Avon Oeming & Brian Michael Bendis
directed by David Slade
music by Jeff Rona

Cast: Sharlto Copley (Christian Walker), Susan Heyward (Detective Deena Pilgrim), Noah Taylor (Johnny Royale), Olesya Rulin (Calista), Adam Godley (Captain Cross), Max Fowler (Krispin Stockley), Michelle Forbes (Retro Girl), Eddie Izzard (Wolfe), Logan Browning (Zora), Bianca Amato (Delia Alexander), Claire Bronson (Candace Stockley), Aaron Farb (Simons), Justice Leak (Detective Kutter), David Ury (Dr. Death), Linds Edwards (Zerotron X), Tom Thon (Security Guard Albert), Pete Burris (Adlard), Leander Suleiman (Mack), Phillip Devona (Zabriski), Elizabeth Fendrick (Lenore Santos-Wagner), Mickey Cole (Levitation Boy), Eva Hamdam (Nicky Buggs), Shelby Steel (Chaotic Chick), Brett Gentile (Argento), Michael Beasley (Chaykin), Cynthia Barrett (Rev. Canon Gregg), Johnny Giacalone (Cancilarra), Jeryl Prescot Sales (Golden), Daniel Thomas May (Bug)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Picard Season 2 Star Trek

Penance

By theLogBook.com
March 10, 2022

Whisked into an alternate timeline by Q in the midst of a crisis involving the Borg, Picard is understandably annoyed at his old nemesis’ presence. Q’s cryptic answers do little to tell Picard why he is now in a timeline where Earth is the center of a Confederation that values human life above all others. The polluted Earth is kept habitable only by a system of solar shields, and Picard’s chateau is now a museum of trophies of a life spent conquering and destroying other species. Q will leave Picard in this reality to atone for some unspecified sin, plunging Picard in the deep end since “General” Picard is soon to make a public appearance on Eradication Day, a holiday celebrating the Confederation’s conquests. Picard is not alone in this timeline, however: Seven awakens in ornate surroundings, free of Borg implants since she was never assimilated. As the President of the Confederation, she too is expected to speak on Eradication Day. She contacts Rios, who is very surprised to find himself commanding an all-out assault on Vulcan space. Raffi and Elnor find themselves in the middle of an uprising, one where Raffi has to take Elnor “prisoner” to keep up appearances (and keep him alive), and Agnes is a cyberneticist in a facility that is keeping one of the Confederation’s worst enemies – the Borg Queen herself, who seems very aware of the changes to the timeline – alive in containment until her public execution. Everyone converges on Earth for Eradication Day, which is to be capped off by a public execution of the Borg Queen. Before the ceremony, the Queen calculates that a single change made in 2024, in Los Angeles, changed the timeline, and that a Watcher at that point in history could help restore history. She also agrees to help them travel back in time, but first, everyone involved has to participate in the ceremony, in reality buying time for Raffi and Elnor to lower the security countermeasures enough for all of them to beam up to La Sirena. But snatching the President of the Confederation, her top General, and public enemy #1 away in front of a huge crowd can’t be accomplished easily…and won’t be accomplished without a high price.

teleplay by Akiva Goldsman & Terry Matalas and Christopher Monfette
story by Michael Chabon and Akiva Goldsman & Terry Matalas and Christopher Monfette
directed by Doug Aarniokoski
music by Jeff Russo
additional music by Sam Lucas

Cast: Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Alison Pill (Dr. Agnes Jurati), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Michelle Hurd (Commander Raffi Musiker), Evan Evagora (Cadet Elnor), Isa Briones (Dr. Soji Asha), Santiago Cabrera (Captain Cristobal Rios), John de Lancie (Q), Annie Wersching (Borg Queen), Jon Jon Briones (First Magistrate), Patton Oswalt (Spot-73), Toni Belafonte (Zilah), Alex Diehl (Harvey), Paula Andrea Placido (Palace Guard), Hanna-Lee Sakakibara (Romulan Rebel)

Notes: Kirk time-traveling via a slingshot around the sun in a purloined Klingon ship (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, 1986) is identified as a “crude” means of time travel, but likely the only one available. Since the divergence in time is as “early” in Star Trek’s future history as 2024, which son of Sarek’s witnessed his execution is left nebulous, though the hostility between Earth and Vulcan in the altered timeline makes Spock’s very birth unlikely, so it was probably Sybok. Tuvok is mentioned as a leader in the Vulcan war effort on a display screen, but not in dialogue. Annie Wersching’s (1977-2023) first television role was in an early episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, Oasis (2002). Aside from a couple of final appearances in her recurring role on The Rookie, her appearance as the Borg Queen during this season of Star Trek: Picard was her final acting role before she died of cancer in January 2023. Actor Jon Jon Briones is the father of series regular Isa Briones.