Day: September 9, 1966

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Green Hornet

The Silent Gun

The Green HornetAfter informing police that he knows something about his father’s death, a young man is murdered in plain sight before the eyes of 20 people, shot at point-blank range…and yet no one around him heard the shot fired or saw a muzzle flash. This catches the attention of Daily Sentinel publisher Britt Reid, who spends his off hours fighting crime in the guise of the Green Hornet, his faithful butler and martial arts expert Kato at his side. When another murder is committed, the Green Hornet and Kato begin closing in on likely suspects, including rival organized crime bosses. They both want a gun that can kill without being heard or seen…but only one of them has it. And they both have it in for the Green Hornet.

written by Ken Pettus
directed by Leslie H. Martinson
music by Billy May

Green HornetCast: Van Williams (The Green Hornet), Bruce Lee (Kato), Wende Wagner (Lenore Case), Lloyd Gough (Mike Axford), Walter Brooke (District Attorney Frank Scanlon), Lloyd Bochner (Dan Carley), Kelly Jean Peters (Jackie Cameron), Ed McCready (Detective Olson), Al McGranary (Minister), Breland Rice (Policeman), Charles Francisco (Al Trump)

Notes: Not so much a spinoff of Batman as a new show taking place in what may or may not be the same “universe”, The Green Hornet – based on a 1930s radio serial – was made by many of the same personnel as Batman, and was intended to be a bit more gritty and less campy than its superhero stablemate. If The Green Hornet is a spinoff of anything, it’s actually a spinoff of a fellow radio show, The Lone Ranger, as both were created by George W. Trendle, whose original radio scripts specified that Britt Reid is the son of Dan Reid, the Lone Ranger’s nephew.

Green HornetThis TV adaptation was also the western audience’s introduction to rising martial arts star Bruce Lee, who performed his own stunts (and, by many accounts, inadvertently but repeatedly injured stuntmen in fight scenes). By the end of the show’s single season on the air, the popularity of Lee and his character threatened to eclipse the show’s nominal star. Despite that popularity, since ABC scheduled it on Friday nights against the more established series The Wild Wild West, The Green Hornet was cancelled early in 1967.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Time Tunnel

Rendezvous With Yesterday

The Time TunnelSenator Clark arrives to take stock of the top secret Project Tic-Toc, a staggeringly expensive, vast underground complex built around an experimental time travel device known simply as the Time Tunnel. The civilian manager of Project Tic-Toc, Doug Phillips, gives Senator Clark the guided tour, but Clark’s presence unnerves project scientst Dr. Tony Newman, who has poured his entire life into the project. Determined to prove that it does work, Newman appoints himself the first human time traveler and sends himself back into the past. Radiation imparted by the use of the Time Tunnel allows Project Tic-Toc technicians to track him back into the past, where they can see and hear that he has arrived on the ocean liner Titanic…mere hours before its destruction. Doug volunteers to travel back in time to help Tony escape, but the only way off the Titanic for the two men is a further trip via the Time Tunnel to a time and place they can’t predict.

Download this episode via Amazonteleplay by Harold Jack Bloom and Shimon Wincelberg
story by Irwin Allen, Shimon Wincelberg and Harold Jack Bloom
directed by Irwin Allen
music by Johnny Williams

The Time TunnelCast: James Darren (Tony Newman), Robert Colbert (Doug Phillips), Michael Rennie (Capt. Malcolm Smith), Susan Hampshire (Althea Hall), Gary Merrill (Senator Leroy Clark), Lee Meriwether (Dr. Ann McGregor), Wesley Lau (Master Sgt. Jiggs), John Zaremba (Dr. Raymond Swain), Whit Bissell (General Heywood Kirk), Don Knight (Grainger), Gerald Michenaud (Marcel), John Winston (The Guard), Brett Parker (Countdown Technician)

Notes: The latest of Irwin Allen’s 1960s science fiction series, The Time Tunnel premiered on ABC one day after the broadcast premiere of Star Trek on rival network NBC; it ran concurrently with the final seasons of Lost In Space and Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea. Though Allen’s big screen work is often synonymous with epic disaster scenarios, his treatment of the sinking of the Titanic is relatively tame, primarily for budgetary reasons; building the cavernous, The Time Tunnel$130,000 Time Tunnel set (or is it a giant prop?) consumed much of the pilot episode’s budget, forcing Allen to fall back on reusing footage from the 1939 film Titanic (which, handily enough, was also produced by 20th Century Fox). Ironically, co-star James Darren would, decades after his trips through the Time Tunnel ended, return to SF TV in another iteration of the Star Trek franchise, as holosuite Rat Pack crooner Vic Fontaine in the later seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; Darren also co-starred with William Shatner in T.J. Hooker at a point in his career where his focus was switching from acting to directing.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Moonbase 3

Departure And Arrival

Moonbase 3After a psychologically unstable pilot’s condition is quietly ignored by the crew of Moonbase 3, he commits suicide during a spacewalk, leaving Dr. Ransome, the Moonbase administrator, with only minimal astronautics training to fly his shuttle. The shuttle is destroyed when Ransome tries to pull off a daring maneuver that any trained pilot would never have even considered. The incident places the future of Moonbase 3 – considered by Earthbound authorities to be a costly “extravagance” – in jeopardy.

Dr. David Caulder is appointed to succeed Ransome as the administrator in charge of Moonbase 3, and Michel Lebrun – who thought he was next in line for the job – prepares to resign in protest. Caulder seems affable enough and eager to learn about life on a permanent outpost on the moon, but just as the crew warms to him, he begins a no-nonsense investigation into Ransome’s death, catching them off guard. Blame is placed and fingers are pointed, and Caulder finally reads his verdict to the three ranking officials on Moonbase 3: he holds them all personally responsible for the deadly incident, and will personally escort all of them home to face formal charges. But after their shuttle lifts off from the Moonbase, it becomes clear that someone aboard has taken steps to ensure that its passengers – and Caulder’s damning report – will never reach Earth…

written by Terrance Dicks and Barry Letts
directed by Ken Hannam
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Donald Houston (David Caulder), Ralph Bates (Michel Lebrun), Fiona Gaunt (Helen Smith), Barry Lowe (Tom Hill), Madhav Sharma (Rao), Michael Lees (Ransome), Michael Wisher (Sanders), Jonathan Sweet (Walters), Peter Bathurst (Director General), Robert La Brassiere (Bill Jackson), Patsy Trench (Jenny), Mary Ann Severne (Sandy), Christine Bradwell (Ingrid), Victor Beaumont (Franz Hauser), Elma Soiron (Madame Carnac), Peter Miles (Dr. Laubenthal)

Notes: Moonbase 3 (the fictional setting) is controlled by the “European Community,” lending Moonbase 3 (the show) an unusual bit of foresight in predicting the European Union. Moonbases 1 and 2 are controlled by, respectively, the United States and Russia (though not the Soviet Union, a body which most assuredly did exist at the time of Moonbase 3’s production – score another point for foresight), and Moonbase 4 is controlled by China. The series came about when BBC bosses asked Terrance Dicks and Barry Letts – the then-script editor and producer of Jon Pertwee-era Doctor Who – if they’d like to do an original SF series of their own to air during Doctor Who’s “off-season.” Moonbase 3 was the result, though both Dicks and Letts have said that there are things they would change about the show if they were to do it again, not the least of which is the show’s grim tone (which, to be fair, seems to be present in a great many SF TV series in the early 1970s). Moonbase 3 was mounted as an international co-production produced by the BBC with financial backing from ABC and 20th Century Fox on the American end of things, but it didn’t make a splash in the ratings on either side of the Atlantic. Ironically, the fact that the series was shown in America is the only reason it still exists today: as with many BBC series made in the 1960s and early ’70s, including many a classic episode of Doctor Who, Moonbase 3 was “purged” from the BBC archives and was only recoverable by way of the American master tapes.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Jason Of Star Command Season 1

Attack Of The Dragonship

Jason Of Star CommandScientist and inventor Professor Parasfoot presents a small robot, W1K1, to Jason, one of Star Command’s most seasoned space adventurers. When Space Academy is attacked by an unknown ship, W1K1 immediately proves to be useful in sealing up a dangerous gas leak. Jason contacts Commander Canarvin, Star Command’s leader, only to see Canarvin disappear from the screen, only to appear on Space Academy’s detectors somewhere in deep space. Jason boards his spacecraft, the Starfire, to rescue Canarvin and investigate the Academy’s unidentified attacker, but he has a passenger he hadn’t counted on – Professor Parsafoot has stowed away, hoping to see some excitement. After Canarvin is recovered, alive and well thanks to his life support belt, a gigantic ship pursues the Starfire. Jason orders Canarvin and Parsafoot into the Starfire’s shuttle and launches them back to the safety of Space Academy. As they escape, the huge ship looms over the Starfire…

written by Samuel A. Peeples
directed by Arthur H. Nadel
music by Yvette Blais & Jeff Michael and Horta-Mahana

Jason Of Star CommandCast: Craig Littler (Jason), Sid Haig (Dragos), Susan O’Hanlon (Capt. Nicole Davidoff), Charlie Dell (Prof. E.J. Parsafoot), James Doohan (Commander Canarvin)

Notes: Episodes of the first season of Jason Of Star Command were approximately 11 minutes in length, as the show shared a half-hour time slot with Filmation’s Saturday morning cartoon Tarzan And The Super 7. The opening titles describe Star Command as a “secret section” of Space Academy, so presumably Commander Gampu and his cadets are elsewhere on the Academy at the same time; as there’s virtually no crossover between the two shows other than the use of the same sets, costumes and models, the whereabouts of the Space Academy characters is unknown. After working on Jason Of Star Command, in-demand miniature model maker Ease Owyeung joined Industrial Light & Magic, where he built other instantly recognizable science fiction miniatures, including the refinery-like alien ships of Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, miniatures for The Empire Strikes Back, Jason Of Star CommandReturn Of The Jedi, Starman, E.T. and Innerspace, and later he supervised the construction of the original six-foot-long filming model of the Enterprise for Star Trek: The Next Generation. Although he is seen in the opening credits, Sid Haig only does a voice-over as Drago in this episode. The music from the animated Star Trek series continues to be used, as does that show’s concept of a “life support belt” which creates an invisible force field around its wearer (and prevents the costume department from having to make expensive spacesuits).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Space: 1999

Message From Moonbase Alpha

Space: 1999Some 20 years after the encounter with the Dorcons, Sandra Benes sends a message to Earth – a message that may never get through. She talks of the struggles of Moonbase Alpha’s crew, and mentions that a combination of failing systems on the outpost and a promisingly Earthlike world nearby has finally resulted in an all-hands evacuation order. Not all of the crew has survived either. Sandra pleads with anyone who receives her transmission to remember the Alpha crew – even if they are never heard from again.

Order the DVDswritten by Johnny Byrne
music by Barry Gray

Cast: Zienia Merton (Sandra Benes)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 2 Stargate Stargate Atlantis

Babylon

  • By Dave
  • September 9, 2005

Stargate SG-1SG-1 goes offworld looking for a group of legendary Jaffa warriors who supposedly won their freedom thousands of years ago. Teal’c’s intelligence is sound, and the Sodan introduce themselves by ambushing the team. Mitchell guards the group’s retreat to the Stargate and gets wounded and captured for his trouble, but not before he critically injures one of the Sodan. The other warriors take Mitchell away using a type of Ancient beaming technology; the rest of SG-1 finds only the wounded Jaffa. They bring him back to Earth, hoping Dr. Lam can save his life and that they can learn of Mitchell’s fate. Their search of the planet reveals only a single obelisk with a line of Ancient writing – not nearly enough for Daniel to determine how to activate the device. And the international committee overseeing the Stargate program is not willing to fund an indefinite search mission with little chance of success.

In the Sodan village, Mitchell learns that he will have to engage in ritual combat as punishment for killing a Sodan warrior. A Sodan named Jolan begins to train him. Even as he tries to learn enough to survive the Kel Shak Lo ritual, Mitchell is concerned by the arrival of a Prior in the village. The Sodan leader, Haikon, explains that the Ancients helped the Sodan overcome the Goa’uld 5000 years ago, and gave them technology to help them stay hidden. The Sodan have worshipped the Ancients as gods ever since, but they have heard nothing for thousands of years. The Ori’s power and offer of enlightenment is a tempting offer – more tempting than the opportunity to ally themselves with Jaffa who served the Goa’uld until recently. Jolan is concerned by Haikon’s ready acceptance of the Ori; the Sodan’s traditions are important to him, especially Kel Shak Lo. It was his brother that Mitchell killed, and Jolan is determined to carry through with the battle. But his respect for Mitchell has also grown, and he may be willing to find a creative way to satisfy his honor.

Order the DVDswritten by Damian Kindler
directed by Peter DeLuise
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Lexa Doig (Dr. Lam), Jason George (Jolan), Tony Todd (Haikon), Jarvis George (Volnek), William B. Davis (Prior), Gary Jones (Sgt. Walter Harriman), Bryan Elliot (Col. Raimi – SG-22), Darcy Laurie (Kassan)

Notes: Mitchell called Jolan “Bones” at the end of the episode, no doubt because their solution to their fight-to-the-death problem closely resembles Dr. McCoy’s in the original Star Trek episode Amok Time. The international oversight committee was first mentioned in this season’s The Ties That Bind, although in that episode it was unclear whether Landry and the SGC would accept the tradeoff.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Season 2 Stargate Stargate Atlantis

Conversion

Stargate AtlantisRushed back to Atlantis’ infirmary, Sheppard’s injuries sustained in the search for Ellia baffle Dr. Beckett; a significant arm wound heals remarkably fast, and Sheppard’s physical stamina increases to an unusual degree. Beckett’s blood work reveals that the retrovirus intended to transform Ellia back into a human seeped into Sheppard’s bloodstream during the fight, and the results could be unpredictable. Dr. Weir removes Sheppard from offworld duty and Beckett orders him to check in frequently, but symptoms appear quickly, and Sheppard begins mutating into something resembling half-human and half-Wraith. As his condition grows worse, Beckett discovers that Sheppard may be able to help himself find the cure – providing he’s still human enough.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Robert C. Cooper & Martin Gero
story by Martin Gero
directed by Brad Turner
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Kavan Smith (Major Lorne), Mitch Pileggi (Colonel Caldwell), Matthew Harrison (Scientist), Lindsay Collins (Scientist), Todd Hann (Bravo Leader), France Perras (Nurse), Andy Nez (Soldier)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Battlestar Galactica (New Series) Season 2

Final Cut

Battlestar GalacticaAfter one of her news broadcasts includes newly-uncovered footage from the clash between civilians and Galactica’s Marines, reporter D’Anna Biers is invited to a meeting with President Roslin and Commander Adama. Fearing that Biers’ report will reignite ill will between civilians and Galactica’s military, Roslin and Adama offer Biers unlimited access to Galactica and her crew. With the public reminded of the controversy, Colonel Tigh finds that not only is he back in the hot seat, but he and his wife are receiving death threats. As Biers continues her investigation, she finds signs that some of Galactica’s crew are starting to crack under the pressur, with results that could be disastrous for each other – or the entire fleet. Then again, by the time it’s broadcast, Biers’ own news piece could have the same effect.

written by Mark Verheiden
directed by Robert Young
music by Bear McCreary

Guest Cast: Michael Hogan (Colonel Tigh), Aaron Douglas (CPO Tyrol), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Paul Campbell (Billy Keikeya), Alessandro Juliani (Lt. Gaeta), Kandyse McClure (Dualla), Lucy Lawless (D’Anna Biers), Kate Vernon (Ellen Tigh), Donnelly Rhodes (Dr. Cottle), Matthew Bennett (Leoben Conoy), Luciana Carro (Louann “Kat” Katraine), Bodie Olmos (Brendan “Hotdog” Costanza), Flick Harrison (Bell), Kevan Kase (Pvt. Scott Kelso), Yee Jee Tso (Staffer), Curtis Hicks (Marine Sergeant), Aleks Paunovic (Marine Sgt. Fischer), Ty Olsson (Capt. Aaron Kelly), Leah Cairns (Racetrack), Jeremy Guilbaut (Lt. Joe “Hammerhead” Palladino)

Notes: This episode introduces us to several of the regular and recurring characters on a first-name basis; Dualla’s first name is Anastasia, and Gaeta’s name is Felix. (He also appears to have picked up a smoking habit.) Actor Yee Jee Tso, who made a very brief appearance as one of Biers’ assistants, appeared in the 1996 Doctor Who TV movie as Chang Lee.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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6th Doctor Doctor Who

Paper Cuts

Doctor Who: Paper CutsThe Doctor receives a summons from the Red Emperor of Draconia for an important state event; the TARDIS materializes and the Doctor discovers that the occasion is the Emperor’s own funeral and a vigil held in advance of the announcement of his successor. The time travelers haven’t even arrived on Draconia itself, but rather in the spaceborne tomb of the late Emperor, floating alongside the tombs of previous rulers of Draconia in deep space. Others are in the Emperor’s tomb as well: his late wife (and high priestess), his son (presumably heir to the throne), a lowly fisherman, a mercenary, and most alarmingly, the recently-murdered prefect who had come to deliver the decree of succession which would reveal the identity of the next Emperor. With aliens and commoners at odds with the nobles and their usual court intrigue, nerves are frayed and tempers flare. But elsewhere in this tomb lies an even deadlier threat – a dark secret that has outlived every Emperor of Draconia, and may now outlive everyone aboard the Emperor’s tomb, including the Doctor and Charley.

Order this CDwritten by Marc Platt
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Steve Foxon

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), India Fisher (Charlotte Pollard), Anthony Glennon (Prince / Young Red Emperor), Sara Crowe (Queen Mother), Paul Thornley (Gomori / Steward), John Banks (Soldier), Nicholas Briggs (Prefect / Red Emperor)

Notes: The Draconians’ sole TV appearance in Doctor Who came in the form of the 1973 Jon Pertwee six-parter Frontier In Space. However, the stylishly designed aliens with their intricate (even for the early ’70s) makeup and well-defined, honor-bound society captured fans’ collective imagination, and the Draconians have featured in novels and fan-made video productions such as Mindgame ever since. This is the Draconians’ first Big Finish appearance.

Timeline: after Patient Zero and before Blue Forgotten Planet

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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Season 4: Miracle Day Torchwood

The Blood Line

TorchwoodFollowing Jack’s blood, the two Torchwood teams close in on the two locations on the surface of the Earth where the Blessing is exposed. Both locations are heavily guarded by members of the three families who obtained Jack’s blood in the early 20th century, and their influence spreads around the world, with agents within the CIA and the Argentine military. Jack reluctantly allows Rex to bring the resources of the CIA in on the operation, but only on the condition that Torchwood’s presence in Shanghai is kept secret, but this only allows the families to have advance warning of Rex and Esther’s presence in South America. Jack and Gwen confront the families in Shanghai and learns the true nature of the Blessing: it’s a life form that exists beneath Earth’s surface, adjusting a morphic field whose presence Jack has been theorizing since the miracle began and gradually extending the average life span of the human race. By deliberately introducing Jack’s immortal blood to the Blessing, the families have altered the nature of life completely. But Jack has a weapon that can restore mortality the human race: now the last mortal man on the planet, he’s willing to shed his own blood to save humanity. Unknown to Jack, Rex has a secret weapon flowing through his veins as well, unwilling to leave anything to chance. But restoring the human race’s ability to die will have a terrible cost.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Jane Espenson and Russell T. Davies
story by Russell T. Davies
with thanks to Chris Chibnall
directed by Billy Gierhart
music by Murray Gold and Stu Kennedy

Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Mekhi Phifer (Rex Matheson), Alexa Havins (Esther Drummond), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Bill Pullman (Oswald Danes), Lauren Ambrose (Jilly Kitzinger), Candace Brown (Charlotte Willis), Sharon Morgan (Mary Cooper), William Thomas (Geraint Cooper), Marina Benedict (), Paul James (), John de Lancie (Shapiro), Tom Price (Sgt. Andy Davidson), Teddy Sears (), Frances Fisher (The Mother), Benito Martinez (Captain Santos), Chris Butler (The Cousin), McKenzie Applegate (Girl), Veronica Diaz, Noemi del Rio (Sandra Morales), Fernando Fernandez (Young Male Soldier), Cici Lau (Chinese Woman), Laura Waddell (Cat One Nurse)

The Blood LineNotes: Benito Martinez joins Miracle Day’s other Star Trek veterans; he appeared in the premiere episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s final season, and appeared in Firefly as well. There are numerous callbacks to Russell T. Davies’ era of Doctor Who here, most obviously the “What? What!? What?!?” catchphrase that was common in David Tennant’s season finales. Jack mentions the Doctor, the Silurians and the Racnoss in connection with the Blessing before admitting that he’s speculating wildly.

LogBook entry by Earl Green