Day: April 15, 1974

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Classic Season 2 Tomorrow People

The Doomsday Men – Part 2: The Burning Sword

Tomorrow PeopleHigh in orbit above Earth, the Damocles space station acts as a deterrent to warfare on Earth. Crewed by the United Nations, Damocles’ nuclear missiles are meant to provide any warmongers on Earth with a good reason to stop fighting. But the Doomsday Men have a plan to take over Damocles, and with it, the entire world.

written by Roger Price
Download this episode via Amazondirected by Roger Price
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Elizabeth Adare (Elizabeth), Nicholas Young (John), Peter Vaughn Clarke (Stephen), Philip Gilbert (TIM), Christopher Chittell (Chris), Eric Young (Lee Wan), Arnold Peters (Dr. Laird), William Tomorrow PeopleRelton (Douglas), Simon Gipps Kent (Paul), Nigel Pegram (Traffic Warden), Lindsay Campbell (Lieutenant General McLelland), Derek Murcott (Major Longford)

Notes: Much of the last third of the episode is tracked with Gustav Holst’s “Mars, The Bringer Of War” from The Planets suite. The special effects model sequences are unusually ahead of their time in one respect: where most American contemporaries such as The Six Million Dollar Man or the TV movie Earth II kept using footage or model sequences of Apollo spacecraft, The Tomorrow Men uses a model of an early design of the Space Shuttle.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Babylon 5 / Crusade Season 3

Sic Transit Vir

  • By Dave
  • April 15, 1996

Babylon 5One man in the Centauri Republic is risking his career and even his life by secretly fighting for Narn’s freedom from Centauri oppression. And it’s ironic that he now faces an arranged marriage to a Centauri woman whose father headed an ethnic “cleansing” program on Narn after the war. But nobody expects the revelation that this man’s name is Vir Cotto. And in the meantime, Ivanova’s dreams are exposing her subconscious concerns about the secession from Earth (among other things).

Order now!Download this episodewritten by J. Michael Straczynski
directed by Jesus Trevino
music by Christopher Franke

Cast: Bruce Boxleitner (Captain John Sheridan), Claudia Christian (Commander Susan Ivanova), Jerry Doyle (Security Chief Michael Garibaldi), Mira Furlan (Delenn), Richard Biggs (Dr. Stephen Franklin), Bill Mumy (Lennier), Jason Carter (Marcus Cole), Stephen Furst (Vir), Jeff Conaway (Zack Allan), Peter Jurasik (Londo Mollari), Andreas Katsulas (G’Kar), Carmen Thomas (Lyndisty), Damian London (Centauri Official), James Jude Courtney (Narn #1)

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Deep Space Nine Season 04 Star Trek

Hard Time

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate not given: On a mission to Argratha in the Gamma Quadrant, O’Brien has been convicted of espionage. As punishment, the Argrathi give him false memories of twenty years in prison. When he returns to DS9, O’Brien has trouble readjusting to life on the station, refusing counseling, snapping at his friends and even his daughter. And he has recurring visions of his “cellmate”, Ee’char – whom he won’t tell anybody about.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonteleplay by Robert Hewitt Wolfe
story by Daniel Keys Moran & Lynn Barker
directed by Alexander Singer
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Rosalind Chao (Keiko), Margot Rose (Rinn), Hana Hatae (Molly), F.J. Rio (Muniz), Craig Wasson (Ee’char)

LogBook entry by Tracy Hemenover

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Deep Space Nine Season 05 Star Trek

Ties Of Blood And Water

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate 50712.5: Kira is delighted by a visit from former Legate Tekeny Ghemor, the Cardassian who once mistakenly believed her to be his daughter, until she learns he is dying. In keeping with Cardassian tradition, he wants to pass on his secrets to be used against his enemies, secrets that could prove damaging to the new Cardassian/Dominion alliance – and which Gul Dukat hopes to prevent from coming to light, as Kira struggles against memories of the death of her own father.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonteleplay by Robert Hewitt Wolfe
story by Edmund Newton & Robbin L. Slocum
directed by Avery Brooks
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: Lawrence Pressman (Ghemor), Marc Alaimo (Gul Dukat), Thomas Kopache (Taban), William Lucking (Furel), Jeffrey Combs (Weyoun), Rick Schatz (Medic)

LogBook entry by Tracy Hemenover

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Babylon 5 / Crusade Season 5

The Corps Is Mother, The Corps Is Father

Babylon 5Bester takes two rookie Psi Cops under his wing just as a disturbed telepath with a multiple personality disorder breaks out of the Psi Corps headquarters, killing a fellow telepath on his way out. With his new charges in tow, Bester tracks the renegade to Babylon 5, where more people have already been murdered. The new Psi Cops try to show some initiative, quickly landing themselves in mortal danger. And Bester is annoyed further when station security – in the person of Zack Allan – is less than supportive of the Psi Cops’ quest to bring down the killer.

Order now!Download this episodewritten by J. Michael Straczynski
directed by Stephen Furst
music by Christopher Franke

Guest Cast: Walter Koenig (Bester), Dana Barron (Lauren Ashley), Mike Genovese (Drake), Reggie Lee (Chen Hikaru), Dex Elliott Sanders (Jonathan Harris), Brendan Ford (Gordon), Don McMillan (Bartender), Jeremy Thomas (Man), Michael Max Charles Ciano (Roommate), Michael Jeffrie Stanton (Dealer)

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Season 04 Star Trek Voyager

The Omega Directive

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate 51793.4: Voyager’s main computer mysteriously brings the ship to an abrupt halt, displaying the symbol of the Greek letter omega and waiting for Captain Janeway to intervene. The computer privately informs Janeway of a top-secret Starfleet directive involving an energy source capable of wiping out large portions of space. Starfleet has failed to harness the Omega energy source and has deemed it too powerful for anyone else to posess – hence Janeway’s orders to locate and destroy the source of Omega. Once she finally discloses these instructions to her crew, Janeway learns that the Borg have encountered Omega as well – and that their experiments with the volatile energy source were no more successful than Starfleet’s. But instead of a threat, Seven of Nine thinks of Omega as ultimate perfection – and a limitless energy source waiting to be harnessed.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Lisa Klink
story by Jimmy Diggs & Steve J. Kay
directed by Victor Lobl
music by Paul Baillargeon

Guest Cast: Jeff Austin (Allos), Kevin McCorkle (Alien Captain), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Enterprise Season 04 Star Trek

Bound

Star Trek: EnterpriseThe Enterprise encounters an Orion trading vessel whose captain, Harrad-Sar, claims to have an offer that Captain Archer can’t refuse. Harrad-Sar says he’s found a planet loaded with the ore needed to build new warp cores, but the Orion Syndicate doesn’t have the means to extract it; the Orions want to form a pact with Starfleet for the ore. As a token of his good will, the Orion captain also gives Archer something else: three tantalizing Orion dancers, whose female charms quickly overpower everything from common sense to the command structure aboard the Enterprise, even affecting Archer’s judgement. Phlox detects unusually powerful pheromones capable of swaying just about any male crewmember, but Trip alone isn’t affected at all – and T’Pol thinks she knows why.

Order DVDswritten by Manny Coto
directed by Allan Kroeker
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: William Lucking (Harrad-Sar), Cyia Batten (Navaar), Derek Magyar (Kelby), Crystal Allen (D’Nesh), Menina Fortunato (Maras), Christopher Jewett (Crewman #1), Duncan K. Fraser (Crewman #2)

Notes: Cyia Batten, seen here in green skin and not much else, was the first of several actresses to play the role of Tora Ziyal, Gul Dukat’s half-Bajoran, half-Cardassian daughter on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. William Lucking also appeared on DS9 as Furel, a former resistance comrade of Major Kira’s, in Shakaar and The Darkness And The Light.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Doctor Who New Series Season 02

New Earth

Doctor WhoThe Doctor and Rose leave present-day Earth behind for adventures on a new Earth – namely, a planet called New Earth that the human race colonized following the destruction of humanity’s homeworld. A mysterious message has brought the Doctor to ward 26 of a hospital operated by the catlike Sisters of Plentitude, but along the way he is separated from Rose. She is diverted to an underground hideaway, where she is subjected to a psychograft by none other than Cassandra, who she thought had died on Platform One. Cassandra is indeed still alive, but wants to resume life in a human body, even if Rose’s is the best she can manage. The Doctor becomes suspicious about the hospital’s seeming ability to conquer any disease, and with the strangely-behaving Rose back at his side, he discovers that the Sisters of Plentitude have bred a new kind of lab rat to help them cultivate and devise cures to these diseases. But the Doctor knows these unfortunate, caged creatures by another name: homo sapiens.

Download this episodewritten by Russell T. Davies
directed by James Hawes
music by Murray Gold

Guest Cast: Camille Coduri (Jackie Tyler), Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith), Zoe Wanamaker (Cassandra), Sean Gallagher (Chip), Dona Croll (Matron Casp), Michael Fitzgerald (Duke of Manhattan), Lucy Robinson (Frau Clovis), Adjoa Andoh (Sister Jatt), Anna Hope (Novice Hame), Simon Ludders (Patient), Struan Rodger (Face of Boe)

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Phase II / New Voyages Star Trek Star Trek Fan Films

Enemy: Starfleet!

Star Trek: Phase II

This is an episode of a fan-made series whose storyline may be invalidated by later official studio productions.

Stardate 7232.5: A landing party from the Enterprise examines volatile mineral deposits, but suddenly comes under attack from a fleet of Peshan raiders. Kirk’s nephew unwisely puts himself in the line of fire on the surface as the under-armed Peshan ships launch futile strafing runs on the Enterprise in orbit. The landing party captures a Peshan on the planet and retuns to the Enterprise during a brief lull in the hostilities. The captured Peshan accuses Captain Kirk and Starfleet of trying to wipe out his people. Another Constitution class ship appears, heavily modified, and begins brutally picking off Peshan ships: the long-lost U.S.S. Eagle, now commanded by the pirate captain Alersa. The Enterprise and the Eagle battle it out until more ships arrive, built by Alersa’s people and based on reverse-engineered Starfleet technology from the Eagle. Kirk denies Starfleet’s involvement, but realizes he’ll have to risk the Enterprise and everyone aboard so he can clear Starfleet’s name and destroy Alersa’s pirate fleet.

Watch Itteleplay by Dave Galanter & Patty Wright
story by Dave Galanter & Gregory Brodeur
directed by Ben Tolpin / additional shots directed by Vic Mignogna
music by Fred Steiner

Cast: James Cawley (Captain Kirk), Brandon Stacy (Mr. Spock), John Kelley (Dr. McCoy), Barbara Luna (Alersa), Paul R. Sieber (Kyril), Charles Root (Scott), J.T. Tepnapa (Sulu), Jonathan Zungre (Chekov), Kim Stinger (Uhura), Bobby Quinn Rice (Peter), Jay Storey (Kyle), Ron Boyd (DeSalle), Meghan King Johnson (Rand), Patrick Bell (Xon), Jeff Mailhotte (Sentell), Charles Miller II (Dickerson), Ron M. Gates (Ross), Deniz Cordell (Bernstein), Vic Mignogna (Thuran), Cynthia Lin (Communications Officer), James Avalos (Science Officer), Ronn Smith (Andock), Brian Holloway (Conoris), Tal Baron (Voral), Matt Bucy (Meskan Security Guard), Howard Miller (Meskan Security Guard), Michael Stern (Peshan #1), John Olsen (Peshan #2)

Notes: Ben Tolpin, who portrayed Spock in Blood & Fire, gave up the science station chair for the director’s chair at short notice when Kevin Rubio, director of the fan-favorite Star Wars spoof Troops, dropped out as this episode’s director. Vic Mignogna, director of the upcoming episode Kitumba, directed some pickup shots made necessary by James Cawley’s ill health at the time of the original shoot.

Review: This might just be the best Phase II episode to date. The “classic cast members play aged versions of their characters” gags long behind them, Phase II has been cranking out some classic Star Trek. The two-part Blood & Fire was overtly topical, but Enemy: Starfleet! is simply a rollicking good action-adventure.

Categories
Doctor Who New Series Season 10

The Pilot

Doctor WhoBill Potts works in the university cafeteria, and though she’s not taking his classes, she attends lectures by a mysteriously tenured professor known only as the Doctor. He’s as likely to lecture on poetry as on physics, and seems to know a little bit about everything – a lot, actually. He’s also very observant, and knows that Bill isn’t one of his students, and offers to tutor her anyway.

Bill catches the eye of a fellow student named Heather, though their conversations never seem to go where expected. Heather is preoccupied with a puddle of standing water which has the audacity to exist in a fenced-in concrete area where there has been no rain for days. Bill relates this to the Doctor, who is suddenly very curious about the puddle, and the scorch marks surrounding it on the concrete: the telltale sign of a recently landed spacecraft. The next time Bill sees Heather, the girl is drenched in an unending torrent of water, has dead eyes, can only repeat what Bill says, and seems to be following her obsessively. Bill races into the Doctor’s office to get away from her, and the Doctor (with Nardole still in tow) whisks her away in the TARDIS. But wherever they go in time and space, whether it’s sunny Sydney or the hell of the Dalek-Movellan war, Heather follows…and won’t give up until Bill joins or rejects her.

Order the DVDDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Steven Moffat
directed by Lawrence Gough
music by Murray Gold

Cast: Peter Capaldi (The Doctor), Pearl Mackie (Bill), Matt Lucas (Nardole), Jennifer Hennessy (Moira), Stephanie Hyam (Heather), Nicholas Briggs (Dalek voices)

Doctor WhoNotes: This is the first (and only) screen appearance of the Movellans since their only other appearance in 1979’s Destiny Of The Daleks; they are primarily a background detail here, and not central to the plot, just like the Daleks that show up without being the central threat. The Doctor seems to have an abundance of his retired sonic screwdrivers on hand – score one product placement for Character Options and Underground Toys – and has framed photos of River Song and Susan on his desk.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green