TV journalist Mike Donovan and his soundman are risking life and limb to cover a rebel uprising in El Salvador when they stumble into the biggest story of the 20th century – gigantic flying saucers appear around the globe, hovering over major world capitols. The world – and the media – watches and waits nervously over several hours as the spacecraft simply sit there. After a long wait – long enough for Donovan to jet back to New York – the alien ships finally send a signal, requesting a meeting with the Secretary General of the United Nations. Donovan is assigned to cover the meeting, which appears to go well – as does Donovan’s reunion with his old flame, reporter Kristine Walsh. The Visitors, as they call themselves, appear to be human, but they request Earth’s help to overcome an environmental disaster on their home planet. In exchange, they offer medical and technological advances, a deal that’s almost too good to be true. And as eager as the Visitors are to solicit humanity’s help, human scientists are just as eager to find out what makes the aliens tick. Dr. Julie Parrish learns that a colleague of hers has obtained a tissue sample from one of the Visitors, but when that colleague disappears and another is framed for involvement in an anti-Visitor conspiracy, Julie begins to suspect that something else is motivating the Visitors. Scientists around the world are to register their identities and whereabouts with the Visitors, and other scientists, including a colleague of anthropologist Robert Maxwell, simply disappear under mysterious circumstances. Donovan takes it upon himself to sneak aboard one of the Visitors’ ships to shoot video that hasn’t been approved by the media-savvy aliens – and there he discovers their true nature and their true plans for Earth. But when he tries to reveal what he’s discovered to the rest of the world, he becomes a marked man.
written by Kenneth Johnson
directed by Kenneth Johnson
music by Joe Harnell
Cast: Marc Singer (Mike Donovan), Faye Grant (Dr. Julie Parrish), Jane Badler (Diana), Michael Durrell (Robert Maxwell), Michael Wright (Elias Taylor), Blair Tefkin (Robin Maxwell), Neva Patterson (Eleanor Dupres), David Packer (Daniel Bernstein), Tommy Peterson (John Brooks), Peter Nelson (Brian), Bonnie Bartlett (Lynn Bernstein), Leonardo Cimino (Abraham Bernstein), Richard Herd (John), Evan Kim (Tony), Richard Lawson (Dr. Benjamin Taylor), George Morfogen (Stanley Bernstein), Andrew Prine (Steven), Hansford Rowe (Arthur Dupres), Jenny Sullivan (Kristine Walsh), Penelope Windust (Kathleen Maxwell), Michael Alldredge (Bill Graham), Camila Ashland (Ruby Engels), Frank Ashmore (Martin), Jason Bernard (Caleb Taylor), Michael Bond (role unknown), Rafael Campos (Sancho Gomez), Diane Civita (Harmony Moore), Viveka Davis (Polly Maxwell), Robert Englund (Willie), Ron Hajak (Denny), Mary-Alan Hokanson (Ruth Barnes), David Hooks (Dr. Metz), Joanna Kerns (Margie Donovan), Jenny Neumann (Barbara), William Russ (Brad), Michael Swan (Bob Briggs), Stephanie Faulkner (Assistant Director), Tom Fuccello (Burke), Wiley Harker (Secretary General of the U.N.), Dick Harwood (Director), Myron Healey (Arch Quinton), Bonnie Johns (role unknown), Eric Johnston (Sean Donovan), Curt Lowens (Dr. Maurice Jankowski), Marin May (Katie Maxwell), Mike Monahan (role unknown), Jennifer Perito (Resistance Member), Clete Roberts (Newscaster), Nathan Roberts (himself), Howard K. Smith (himself), Robert Vandenberg (Rebel Camp Leader), Momo Yashima (role unknown)
LogBook entry by Earl Green
Veteran Los Angeles beat cops Cleaver and Bundy have been partners for 23 years, so it amuses Bundy – and annoys Cleaver – to discover that the LAPD commissioner is assigning Cleaver to train a rookie named Haven. But Haven’s first day on the mean streets is almost more than he can handle, as he and Cleaver find themselves pursuing car thieves running a chop shop with international customers, including one known cop killer. When Haven falls in the line of duty, Cleaver discovers the truth: Haven is a biosynthetic android, programmed to look and act as human as possible, being beta-tested as a policeman for the future. The commissioner assigned Haven to Cleaver knowing that the rookie would never pass muster with the grizzled, curmudgeonly veteran. Cleaver takes exception to this and takes on the repaired Haven as a partner again. While Cleaver could learn to use some of Haven’s logic in his police work, Haven has just as much to learn about human instinct.written by Anthony Wilson
Cast: Ernest Borgnine (Cleaver), Michael Shannon (Haven), John Amos (Bundy), John Larch (Forman), Herbert Nelson (Klausmeier), Ronnie Clark Edwards (Avery), James Luisi (Paterno), Stephen Pearlman (Dorfman), James Daughton (Young Rookie), Lorry Goldman (First Terrorist), Tony Burton (Second Terrorist), Nancy Belle Fuller (Cocktail Waitress), Ruth Manning (Della), Eddy C. Dyer (Hippie), Shirley O’Hara (Grandmother), Sandy Ward (Fowler), Sandy Sprung (Evans), Michael Francis Blake (Teenager), Bill Dearth (Fugitive), Michael Goodrow (First Kid), Eric Suter (Second Kid)
Notes: The mention that “1984 is only eight years away” places the story in the “present day” of its broadcast airate in 1976. Though aired under the title Future Cop, the DVD release indicates that the pilot episode was titled Cleaver & Haven.
Cast: James Warwick (Michael Gaffikin), Celia Imrie (Fiona Patterson), Maurice Roeves (Inspector Inskip), Tom Watson (Dr. Goudry), Jonathan Newth (Colonel Howard), James Cosmo (Sergeant Carch), Fraser Wilson (PC Malcolmson), Tony Sibbald (Symonds), Elaine Wells (Mrs. MacKay)
