Day: March 19, 1980

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Beyond Westworld Westworld

Sound Of Terror

Beyond WestworldThe rock band Power & Ruth has a loyal following and a social conscience, stopping to play an impromptu anti-nuke protest concert just outside of a nuclear power plant. But during that gig, someone breaks into the plant and steals uranium. A robot replica is suspected, and Delos once again puts Moore and Pam on the case. Posing as Power & Ruth’s new PR agents, the two get to know each member of the band, trying to work out which member of the band or its road crew is most likely a uranium-stealing robot. In the meantime, Quaid awaits delivery of the uranium, which he plans to hand over to an unscrupulous Middle Eastern dictator who will have no qualms about using it as a weapon.

written by Martin Roth
directed by Paul Stanley
music by George Romanis
songs written and performed by Ronee Blakley

Beyond WestworldCast: Jim McMullan (John Moore), James Wainwright (Simon Quaid), Connie Sellecca (Pamela Williams), William Jordan (Joseph Oppenheimer), Ronee Blakley (Ruth Avery), Lawrence Casey (Ryder), Dirk Blocker (Mace), Ed Bernard (Doctor), Rene Auberjonois (Power), Severn Darden (Foley), Ann McCurry (Roberta), Louis Welch (Bobby Lee), Robert Ayers (Spooner), Dewayne Jessie (Lingo), Sirri Murad (Hakim Fadar), Mary Carver (Head Nurse)

Notes: This was the final episode of Beyond Westworld aired by CBS; the show’s dismal ratings were a threat to the remainder of CBS’ Wednesday night schedule in spring 1980 (taken up by the CBS Wednesday night movie), and the series was yanked with only two additional unaired episodes (The Lion and Takeover) having been produced. Beyond WestworldRene Auberjonois shapeshifted into the role of a rock star here, mere months before starting a regular stint on the sitcom Benson (and many years before starring in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as Odo). Ronnie Sue Blakley had risen to stardom in the movie Nashville (1975), for which she was nominated for an Oscar; she later starred in A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984), and in between made numerous TV guest appearances in the likes of Highway To Heaven, The Love Boat, Vega$ and Tales From The Darkside. She had a very real recording career in addition to her acting career, releasing several albums between 1972 and 2012, and wrote and performed her own songs in this episode. Like her character here, she often played in support of political causes, including the presidential campaigns of Walter Mondale and Jerry Brown; unlike her character, she probably didn’t run into any killer nuke robots.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Buck Rogers Season 2

Shgoratchx!

Buck Rogers In The 25th CenturyThe Searcher investigates a derelict spacecraft in the interstellar shipping lanes. When Buck, Hawk and Crichton board the ship, they find seven little problems and one big one. The ship is populated by six little men claiming to be generals, and one who serves as a lowly private – and the ship’s hold is full of rapidly deteriorating solar bombs, enough to wipe out everything within 20 million miles. The Searcher locks onto the derelict with its tractor beam, and the seven unlikely passengers are welcomed aboard where they promptly wreak havoc, playing with the controls and nearly ramming the Searcher into the bomb-laden derelict. Crichton is also damaged, his positronic brain seriously damaged, and even Dr. Goodfellow can’t repair him. Worse yet, the generals have telekinetic powers, which they use to do everything from escaping their locked quarters to removing Wilma’s clothes for “scientific examination.” Their antics put the ship in further danger by locking it on a collision course for the star used to dispose of the solar bombs.

Order the DVDswritten by William Keys
directed by Vincent McEveety
music by Bruce Broughton

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), Tommy Madden (General Xenos), Alex Hyde-White (Ensign Moore), John Edward Allen (General Zoman), Tony Cox (Private Zedht), Billy Curtis (General Voomak), Harry Monty (General Sothoz), Spencer Russell (General Towtuk), Charles Secor (General Kuzan)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Wizards & Warriors

Night Of Terror

Wizards & WarriorsHaving survived life and death battles together, Greystone and Princess Ariel move on to something that the prince finds much more stressful: a simple picnic. Ariel has chosen to set up the picnic on the grounds of a haunted castle, and when her dog runs toward the castle, she and Greystone follow and become trapped inside. Naturally, it’s all a carefully laid trap that Vector has arranged, and the evil wizard is so certain that the happy couple is doomed that he begins bargaining with Prince Blackpool for his magical monocle. But with help on the way from Marko, Greystone isn’t ready to give up just yet.

written by Bill Richmond
directed by Bill Bixby
music by Lee Holdridge and Alf Clausen

Cast: Jeff Conaway (Prince Erik Greystone), Walter Olkewicz (Marko), Duncan Regehr (Prince Dirk Blackpool), Julia Duffy Wizards & Warriors(Princess Ariel), Clive Revill (Vector), Julie Payne (Queen Lattinia), Thomas Hill (King Baaldorf)

Notes: This was the first credited composing assignment for Alf Clausen, who would move on to provide music for such shows as Moonlighting and Alf before becoming the resident composer for The Simpsons, scoring all but a handful of that show’s episodes over its 20+ year run.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
KTMA Season Mystery Science Theater 3000

Experiment K16: City On Fire

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The KTMA SeasonMST3K Story: The Mads have received notice from the Mad Scientists’ League that they are actually “mildly peeved researchers” and may have their licenses revoked. Dr. Forrester worries that they will have to re-enter the private sector. Dr. Erhardt doesn’t want to go back to fruit inspection. To illustrate to Dr. Erhardt how the movies they show utilize science, the Mads watch City On Fire at the same time they send it to Joel. The Bots set up a telescope so they can run the old “black ink on the eyepiece” joke on Joel. When Joel tries to demonstrate a new invention, the Hell-In-A-Handbag, the Bots begin to lose themselves in their roles. The successful test scares the bejeezus out of Crow, which is sweet revenge for Joel. Later Joel has the Bots perform a “double time” march to a chant about their situation on the Satellite of Love. After the movie, Gypsy shows up, having been working on the newsletter and fan club materials. Joel shows the stuff off and suggests people write in to join.

City On Fire Story: A series of events play out around the opening of a new hospital. The Mayor, William Dudley, is attempting to set up a run for Governor while at the same time wooing Diana Brockhurst-Lautrec, the widow of the previous Governor. Dr. Frank Whitman, the head of the new hospital and a figure from Diana’s past, is dealing with the fact that government cutbacks have left the hospital poorly equipped to serve its purpose. Herman Stover, a worker in the local refinery who went to school with Diana, loses his job. This, combined with his obsession with Diana and growing resentment, leads Herman to sabotage the refinery. This causes a massive fire that spreads quickly, consuming whole neighborhoods and eventually threatening the hospital itself. Following the action are the fire chief, Albert Risley, and an opportunistic news reporter, Maggie Grayson. Things take a turn for the worse when the fire surrounds the hospital, causing a firestorm, which begins to consume the oxygen inside. A desperate plan to rescue the patients mostly succeeds, although many lives are lost.

MST3K segments written by Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Josh Weinstein, Jim Mallon & Kevin Murphy
MST3K segments directed by Todd Ziegler
City On Fire written by Jack Hill & David P. Lewis and Céline La Frenière
City On Fire directed by Alvin Rakoff
City On Fire music by William & Matthew McCauley

MST3K Guest Cast: none

City On Fire Cast: Barry Newman (Frank Whitman), Susan Clark (Diana Brockhurst-Lautrec), Shelley Winters (Nurse Andrea Harper), Leslie Nielsen (Mayor William Dudley), James Franciscus (Jimbo), Ava Gardner (Maggie Grayson), Henry Fonda (Chief Albert Risley), Jonathan Welsh (Herman Stover), Hilary Labow (Mrs. Adams), Richard Donat (Capt. Harrison Risley)

LogBook entry by Philip R. Frey

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Season 03 Star Trek The Next Generation

Sins of the Father

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 43685.2: The Enterprise receives a Klingon first officer on the Federation exchange program, Commander Kurn, who tests Worf’s nerve and turns out to be the security chief’s brother, seperated from Worf at birth. Worf learns that their father has been indicted on charges of betraying the Khitomer Outpost – which is where he died. The execution will be carried out on Worf’s family name, and he returns to the First City of the Klingon Empire and discovers the true traitor, but also finds that even Klingons can be totally dishonest and dishonorable, and after Kurn and Captain Picard become the targets of assassins, Worf pays for a crime his father did not commit with his own honor.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Ronald D. Moore and W. Reed Moran
based on a teleplay by Drew Deighan
directed by Les Landau
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Charles Cooper (K’mpec), Tony Todd (Commander Kurn), Patrick Massett (Duras), Thelma Lee (Kahlest), Teddy Davis (Transporter Technician)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Red Dwarf Season 05

Demons & Angels

Red DwarfKryten and Lister are experimenting with the triplicator, a device Kryten has adapted from the Matter Paddle which can produce two copies of any object; in this case, they’re trying it out with strawberries, and the device works perfectly, though it somehow produces one divine and wholesome copy of the strawberry and another teeming with maggots and nastiness (which Lister discovers by biting into it). Kryten tries to reverse the process, and before anyone can sing “Strawberry Fields Forever,” the drive room is bursting with explosions and the gang has to beat a hasty retreat to Starbug just in case Red Dwarf explodes…which, rather less than surprisingly, it does soon after Starbug escapes. But, to make up for the predictability of that, the law of averages takes a snooze as Kryten spots two copies of Red Dwarf nearby – which, since he theorizes they were created by a freak field reversal in the triplicator, will be a divine, idealized Red Dwarf, and the other will be, as Lister puts it, “fish bait.” Seeking help from the idealized Red Dwarf, they find four individuals who spend their time in pursuit of higher truths and ideologies and spiritual fulfillment. When the “low” Red Dwarf sends out a mayday, our heroes and their “higher” counterparts set out to render assistance, only to find a trap set by four bloodthirsty, murderous individuals aboard a grungy garbage scow of a ship. If they can survive their “low” selves, the guys may be able to combine the two and recreate their own Red Dwarf.

Order the DVDswritten by Rob Grant & Doug Naylor
directed by Juliet May and Grant Naylor
music by Howard Goodall

Guest Cast: none

Original Title: High & Low

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 03 Star Trek Voyager

Favorite Son

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate 50732.4: Ensign Kim fires without warning or explanation on an alien ship. This startling action has apparently saved Voyager, but Harry continues to “remember&quo;t things about a place he’s never been. When more Nasari ships appear to press the attack, Voyager is saved by a Taresian vessel and escorted to their homeworld with the surprising news that Harry is actually a Taresian – conceived in the Delta Quadrant and taken to Earth for fosterage unknown to his human parents. The Taresians bend over backwards to welcome Harry back to the fold, even preparing him for their form of multiple marriage, but Harry and the crew sense something amiss.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Brannon Braga
story by Lisa Klink
directed by Marvin V. Rush
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Cari Shayne (Eliann), Deborah May (Lyris), Patrick Fabian (Taymon), Kelli Kirkland (Rinna), Kristanna Loken (Malia), Christopher Carroll (Alex), Irene Tsu (Mrs. Kim)

LogBook entry by Paul Campbell

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Lexx Season 2

Woz

Lexx790 reveals that Xev has an “expiration date” – and it’s only 79 hours away. As part of her love slave programming, Xev’s body was programmed to break down and die – all to keep the love slave trade in business. Though the Lusticon, the machine used to transform women into love slaves in the Cluster, was destroyed, 790 tracks down a prototype on the tornado-ravaged planet Woz. Stan and Kai land near a convent run by “The Wozard,” a man who claims he can revert former love slaves to their original form and release their inner beauty. But the Wozard doesn’t have the Lusticon – it’s in a well-guarded fortress, protected by a group of women who actually want to use its powers. Kai and Stan try to snatch the machine before the war between the Wozard and the women ends in its destruction – and Xev’s death.

Order the DVDswritten by Paul Donovan and Lex Gigeroff
directed by David MacLeod
music by Marty Simon

Guest Cast: Lenore Zann (Dark Lady), Walter Borden (The Wozard), Lisa Hines (Zev of B3K), Kerry MacPherson (Skye), Stacy Smith (Calico), Robin Johnson (Guard 1), Laura Nason (Guard 2), Adrienne Horton (Guard 3), Lori Heath (Hologram Guard), Jeffrey Hirschfield (790), Tom Gallant (Lexx)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Farscape Season 1

Premiere

  • By Dave
  • March 19, 1999

FarscapeCommander John Crichton is the first test pilot of Farscape One, a craft he designed in order to test a theory on gravitational acceleration. However, when the ship encounters a disturbance midflight, Crichton winds up sucked through a wormhole right into the middle of a prison ship’s escape from its military escort. Moya, the prison ship, brings Crichton on board, but not before one of the attacking Peacekeeper fighters collides with Farscape One and subsequently crashes. His first encounter with the escapees – the exiled priest Zhaan, the deposed ruler Rygel, and the warrior D’Argo – does not go well, and before long he and a captured Peacekeeper stage a prison break of their own . . . with the brother of the dead pilot on their trail and seeking revenge.

Season 1 Regular Cast: Ben Browder (Commander John Crichton), Claudia Black (Officer Aeryn Sun), Virginia Hey (Pa’u Zotoh Zhaan), Anthony Simcoe (Ka D’Argo)

Order the Season 1 DVDswritten by Rockne S. O’Bannon
directed by Andrew Prowse
music by Subvision

Guest Cast: Kent McCord (Jack Crichton), Lani John Tupu (Captain Bialar Crais)

Notes: Lani Tupu also provides the voice for Pilot, one of Farscape‘s recurring animatronic characters. Jonathan Hardy voices the former Hynerian Dominar, Rygel.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

Categories
Lexx Season 3

Tunnels

LexxDumped off of the edge of K-Town, Kai still hasn’t fully recovered, and is helpless to prevent his own capture by the denizens of another town. Still in K-Town, however, Stan and Xev have another problem – Prince has apparently been fully reincarnated. He offers to help them rescue Kai, but naturally his price is still the destruction of the planet Water. In the meantime, Kai is taken to a town where, upon admitting that he is an assassin, he is put in trial. He even agrees to be subject to the harshest punishment his judges have to offer – namely, to be thrown off the edge of this town’s tower. Xev and Stan, however, have become separated and may not survive the treacherous journey by subterranean tunnel from K-Town.

Order the DVDswritten by Paul Donovan and Lex Gigeroff
directed by Bruce McDonald
music by Marty Simon

Guest Cast: Nigel Bennett (Prince), Lex Gigeroff (Dr. Rainbow)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Farscape Season 3

Suns and Lovers

  • By Dave
  • March 19, 2001

FarscapeThe crew visits a commerce station to spend some of their profits from the Shadow Depository heist when a sudden storm hits, sending wreckage flying throughout the bar and trapping Moya in a mess of mooring cables. Aeryn raises the possibility of a physical relationship with John while Chiana and Jothee try to keep their own intimate encounters a secret from D’Argo. The crew discover that there are children trapped in another part of the station; Aeryn and Crichton set off to rescue them while Zhaan tends to the injured barkeeper. One of the cryogenic chambers from the ice planet opens; while Jothee is trying to figure out if the occupant overheard any of his most recent dalliance, said occupant has a sudden seizure and dies. He may not be the only one; another storm is heading their way, and it looks like someone on the station has a death wish – the storm is being summoned by a signal from inside.

Order the DVDswritten by Justin Monjo
directed by Andrew Prowse
music by Guy Gross

Guest Cast: Matt Newton (Jothee), Leanna Walsmann (Borlik), Thomas Holesgrove (Moordil), Jessica Fallico (Alien Girl), David Lucas (Cryoman)

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

Categories
Season 2 Torchwood

Adrift

TorchwoodOne of Gwen’s old friends in the Cardiff Police asks her to help with a missing persons case, and is disappointed by her apparent lack of interest – until she sees the surveillance video of the disappearance, which has two extraordinary features – a bright light, just out of the camera’s range, at the moment of the disappearance…and the presence of Jack Harkness in the very next frame. Gwen immediately confronts Jack about his whereabouts at the time, and finds his answer evasive. Despite a direct order from Jack to not waste Torchwood’s time with a missing persons case better suited to the police, Gwen pursues the investigation in her spare time, discovering that many more people have gone missing under similar circumstances – and she risks everything to confirm her gut feeling that Jack is involved.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Chris Chibnall
directed by Mark Everest
music by Ben Foster

Guest Cast: Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Tom Price (PC Andy), Ruth Jones (Nikki), Robert Pugh (Jonah), Lorna Gayle (Helen), Oliver Ferriman (young Jonah)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Caprica

Ghosts In The Machine

CapricaIn a moment of revelation, Daniel Graystone begins addressing the Cylon as “Zoe,” but it offers no response until he starts a more aggressive probe of the machine’s central processor. In New Cap City, Joseph Adama is also continuing his quest to find the avatar of his own dead daughter, and has found a more capable guide – but also a more demanding one. Even with her greater expertise in playing the game, she has her hands full as Adama becomes more obsessed with finding Tamara… but Tamara has already begun to acquire quite a reputation in the virtual world. But both men find themselves dealing with the possibility that their daughters no longer want to be a part of their world.

written by Michael Taylor
directed by Wayne Rose
music by Bear McCreary

Guest Cast: John Pyper-Ferguson (Tomas Vergis), Scott Porter (Nestor), Alex Arsenault (Philomon), Leah Gibson (Emmanuelle), Dmitry Chepovetsky (Cerberus), Phil Granger (Tanner), Jesse Haddock (Darius)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Picard Season 1 Star Trek

Et In Arcadia Ego – Part 1

Star Trek: Picard2399: Using the knowledge of Borg transwarp conduits that Soji gained while working aboard the Artifact, La Sirena reaches Soji’s home planet in mere minutes, while the Romulan fleet going there to destroy the planet lags about a day behind at mere warp speeds. Narek, following in a Romulan fighter, tries to take down La Sirena, but the crews of both ships are caught off guard by the arrival of a Borg cube: the Artifact is now fully functional again thanks to Seven of Nine. All three ships are immediately attacked by bio-organic automated defense systems around the planet and forced to land. The Borg ship suffers severe damage as a result, but both Elnor and Seven survive. Picard and the others from La Sirena walk to the home settlement of the synths, finding a lone human there: Altan Soong, son of Data’s creator, Noonian Soong, and former secret collaborator of Bruce Maddox. It is Soong who created Dahj and Soji, and has created an entire community of other synthetic twins, one of which has learned how to mind meld, and does so with Jurati. But this reveals that the Admonition is an offer of help from a union of synthetics beyond the Federation’s home galaxy – an offer of help that also means the eradication of organic life. Worse yet, knowing that a fleet of over 200 Romulan ships draws near, the synths decide to accept that offer and send out a distress signal.

Order DVDsteleplay by Michael Chabon & Ayelet Waldman
story by Michael Chabon & Ayelet Waldman & Akiva Goldsman
directed by Akiva Goldsman
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), Brent Spiner (Altan Inigo Soong), Peyton List (Narissa), Brian DeRozan (Romulan Officer), Matt Perfetuo (Rune), Mike Perfetuo (Codex), Jade Ramsey (Arcana), Nikita Ramsey (Saga), Zachary James Rukavina (XB/Nameless), and Spot II

Star Trek: PicardNotes: The episode’s namesake is a 1638 painting by Nicolas Poussin, now held in the Louvre, and is generally understood to mean that even in a utopia or other ideal place, death still exists. The clothes worn by some of the synthetic life forms created by Soong and Maddox are strongly reminiscent of fashions from 1960s Star Trek, including the barely-there outfits worn by such past synthetic life forms as Rayna (Requiem For Methuselah, 1969) and Andrea (What Are Little Girls Made Of?, 1966), suggesting a connection between those androids and the work of the Soong family (and suggesting that classic series costume designer William Ware Theiss Star Trek: Picardcasts a vast shadow across the entire franchise). It is worth noting, in light of the Romulans’ aversion to artificial life (and their apparent contact with sympathetic members of Starfleet), that every developer of artificial life in Star Trek lore, from Dr. Roger Korby to Flint to Noonian Soong, has worked on their creations in seclusion. Alluded to in previous episodes but never named, Picard’s terminal brain-related ailment is hinted to be the irumodic syndrome detected by Dr. Crusher in All Good Things… (1994), though the third season contradicts this by saying that Picard never developed that condition in this timeline.

LogBook entry by Earl Green