Day: November 13, 2000

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Season 6 Xena: Warrior Princess

The Rheingold

Xena: Warrior PrincessXena and Gabrielle are eating dinner in a tavern, when Xena notices a man watching them. She asks why he’s watching them and he comes over to their table and introduces himself as Beowulf. Xena asks what he’s there for and he places a rusty lock on their table. The warrior looks at the lock for a moment and then tells Gabrielle that she needs to talk to Beowulf. Later in their room, Xena is reluctant to tell Gabrielle about what she discussed with Beowulf. The bard assures her that she doesn’t need to know everything – but the next morning, Gabrielle awakens to find Xena gone, and a note on her bed.

Order the DVDswritten by R.J. Stewart
directed by John Fawcett
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Brittney Powell (Brunnhilda), Roger Morrissey (Monster Grinhilda), Renato Bartolomei (Beowulf), Alexander Petersons (Odin), Luanne Gordon (Grinhilda), Marama Jackson (First Rheinmaiden), Lucy Thomas (Second Rheinmaiden), Stephanie Bertram (Third Rheinmaiden), Glen Levy (Grendel), Jonathan Blick (First Viking), Guus de Koster (Merchant)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

Categories
Enterprise Season 02 Star Trek

The Communicator

Star Trek: EnterpriseArcher, Hoshi and Malcolm return from a mission to a pre-warp civilization riddled with paranoia – and on the brink of war between two major political powers. But as they prepare to leave the planet behind, Malcolm realizes that he left his communicator behind. Archer and Malcolm go back to retrieve the communicator, trying to prevent not only cultural contamination but a sudden technological advance that could forever affect an entire world. But when they’re captured in the process – carrying more advanced technology – Archer can either contaminate the planet’s cultures by breaking the news to his captors that he and Malcolm are aliens…or they could die trying to protect that secret.

Order DVDsDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxteleplay by Andrè Bormanis
story by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
directed by James Contner
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Francis Guinan (Gosis), Tim Kelleher (Lt. Pell), Brian Reddy (Dr. Temec), Dennis Cockrum (Alien Barkeep), Jason Waters (Soldier)

Notes: Fittingly enough for someone who shares a name with the Enterprise-D’s bartender, Francis Guinan is no stranger to Star Trek, having appeared in the early Ex Post Facto episode of Voyager. Fellow guest star Tim Kelleher was an ill-fated crewman in the final episode of Next Generation.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Clone Wars Star Wars Tartakovsky Series, Vol. 1

Chapter 5

  • By Dave
  • November 13, 2003

Star Wars: Clone WarsYoda assigns Kit Fisto to defend the Mon Calamari against an underwater assault by the Quarren, who have allied with the Separatists.

Order the DVDsstory by Bryan Andrew, Darrick Bachman, Paul Rudish and Genndy Tartakovsky
directed by Genndy Tartakovsky
original music by John Williams
new music by James L. Venable and Paul Dinletir

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

Categories
Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Scream Of The Shalka

Richard E. Grant as the 9th DoctorThe Doctor, now in his ninth generation, finds himself in 2003 England. The small town he has been sent to (by powers unknown) has been overcome by strange, ground-dwelling creatures known as the Shalka. The Shalka keep the townspeople under their thrall with the ever-present threat of destruction. The Doctor comes to realize that the Shalka use sound as their weapon and turns that weapon against them. What he doesn’t realize is that the plan is much bigger than simply taking over one small town in England. All over the world similar towns are being invaded, their populations being slowly, subtly altered. Once complete, these humans can be used as a conduit to bring about the destruction of the Earth by way of a scream that will alter the Earth’s atmosphere, making it habitable for the Shalka, but little else. While combating this latest threat to the Earth, the Doctor tries to deal with the demons of his past and find his way in the Universe.

written by Paul Cornell
directed by Wilson Milam
music by Russell Stone

Cast: Richard E. Grant (The Doctor), Sophie Okonedo (Alison), Craig Kelly (Joe), Andrew Dunn (Max), Anna Calder-Marshall (Matilda), Conor Moloney (Dawson / Greaves), Ben Morrison (McGrath), Derek Jacobi (The Master), Diana Quick (Prime), Jim Norton (Kennet)

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Philip R. Frey

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Heroes Season 1

Seven Minutes To Midnight

HeroesMohinder Suresh returns to India to scatter his father’s ashes, with no intention of returning to America to continue his research. Despite more tantalizing clues into his father’s work at home, he wants to resume his normal life. Even then, painful revelations surface when Mohinder’s mother reveals that he had a sister with special abilities, who died before Mohinder was born. In L.A., Parkman is once again dragged into FBI work, helping his Bureau contact interrogate Ted Sprague, who is facing charges of possessing radioactive material and a handover to the Department of Homeland Security. Parkman is more interested in Sprague’s story of how he came to have his powers – a story that parallels Parkman’s own experiences with his mind-reading ability – but he’s pulled off the case when the LAPD suspends him for assaulting his former partner (after Parkman overhead a stray thought that revealed his wife was having an affair with his fellow officer). In a diner in a small Texas town, Hiro meets a waitress with an amazing memory and a gift for languages, and grows attached to her – only to find her dead later, Sylar’s latest victim. Hiro decides to transport himself back in time to save her, promising Ando that he’ll only appear to be gone five seconds. When Hiro fails to appear, Ando can only assume that his friend has become the next victim…

Order the DVDswritten by Tim Kring
directed by Paul Edwards
music by Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman / vocals by Shenkar

Guest Cast: Clea Duvall (Audrey Hanson), Nora Zehetner (Eden McCain), James Kyson Lee (Ando Masahashi), Erick Avari (Chandra Suresh), Jayma Mays (Charlie Andrews), Matthew John Armstrong (Ted Sprague), Lisa Lackey (Janice Parkman), Stacy Haiduk (FBI Agent), Shishir Kurup (Nirand), Sakina Jaffrey (Mrs. Suresh), Kavi Ladiner (Mira), Zachary Quinto (Sylar), Karri Turner (Lisa)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Hidden Frontier Star Trek Star Trek Fan Films Star Trek: Intrepid

Orphans Of War

Star Trek: Orphans Of War

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

Stardate not given: Following the Archein’s attempt to conquer and colonize Romulan space (see Star Trek: Odyssey’s Iliad episode), the U.S.S. Excelsior and U.S.S. Intrepid land the unenviable task of trying to remove robotic Archein weapons platforms which are trained to instantly fire on any Romulan ships they detect. The Federation ships slip through those detectors – at first – but then they’re fired upon, and key crew members are beamed off of both ships and into the automated control vessel for the weapons platforms. Captain Hunter and Lt. Caed from the Intrepid find themselves stranded alongside two of Excelsior’s crew, watching an “indoctrination” message recorded by one of the Archein’s leaders. Hunter decides that no one in Starfleet uniform will be indoctrinated today, but putting up a fight – even against a completely unmanned automated station – may be more difficult than either crew imagines.

Watch Itstory by Brian Matthews, Rob Caves and Nick Cook
teleplay by Brian Matthews
directed by Jennifer Cole
music by David Beukes

Cast: Risha Denney (Captain Elizabeth Shelby), Nick Cook (Captain Daniel Hunter), Joanne Busch (Commander Robin Lefler), Lucy Faria-Cook (Lt. Commander Yanis Caed), Rick Corbett (Commander Ben Nostrom), Wayne Webb (Lt. Commander Matt McCabe), David Reid (Lt. C’Seris), John Whiting (General Morrigu), Nick Beckwith (Lt. Simmons), Tyler Bosserman (Lt. Commander Andrew Barrett)

Review: This clever little vignette, weighing in at around the 15-minute mark, brings together the crew of Hidden Frontier‘s Excelsior and the crew of the U.S.S. Intrepid, a 24th century Trek fan series made in Scotland (see our review of Intrepid’s first episode, Heavy Lies The Crown). As much as I gripe about an entire story being shot against a chromakey background so CGI “sets” can be inserted later, Orphans Of War points up what may be one of the few advantages of shooting that way: an international cast can be in the same production without a budget big enough to cause an international incident.

Categories
Sarah Jane Adventures Season 3

Mona Lisa’s Revenge – Part 2

The Sarah Jane AdventuresSarah has been trapped in a painting by the Mona Lisa, who will stop at nothing to find her brother, who is also encased in a painting elsewhere in the gallery. When Luke, Clyde and Rani try to interfere, a gun-toting highwayman from another painting is sent after them. Clyde is captured and brought before the Mona Lisa, who plans to keep him as an insurance policy against the others – and the means to free her brother and devour all life on Earth. With Sarah unable to help them, Luke sees no choice but to give the Mona Lisa what she wants… unless he can do what his mother has always done, and come up with a plan to save the world.

Get the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Phil Ford
directed by Joss Agnew
music by Sam Watts / title music by Murray Gold

Guest Cast: Suranne Jones (Mona Lisa), Ace Bhatti (Haresh), Alexander Armstrong (Mr. Smith), Jeff Rawle (Mr. Harding), Liza Sadovy (Miss Trupp), Paul Kasey (Highwayman), John Leeson (voice of K-9)

Notes: The Mona Lisa itself has already played a significant part in Doctor Who history, as it was central to the plot of 1979’s City Of Death, co-written by Douglas Adams – but it’s just possible that City Of Death helps to explain this story. Luke theorizes that Leonardo da Vinci may have used paints laced with alien minerals for the Mona Lisa; it’s just possible that da Vinci’s paint was provided for him by Scaroth, last of the Jagaroth, who demanded that da Vinci paint extra copies of the Mona Lisa for him as part of a scheme to fund time travel experiments in the 20th century. (It is mentioned in City that, as of 1979, the Mona Lisa in the Louvre – and therefore the one in this story as well – was one of Scaroth’s duplicates.)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 2 Walking Dead, The

Chupacabra

The Walking DeadShane angrily argues with Rick that the search for Sophia is futile. Daryl is injured and dreams of his brother berating him. Hershel confronts Rick about establishing boundaries between the two groups. Andrea shoots a walker, only to find she has wounded Daryl stumbling back into camp. Glenn discovers the deadly secret Hershel has been keeping in the barn.

written by David Leslie Johnson
based on the graphic novel series by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore
Order this seasonDownload this episodeand Charlie Adlard
directed by Guy Ferland
music by Bear McCreary

The Walking DeadCast: Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes), Jon Bernthal (Shane Walsh), Sarah Wayne Callies (Lori Grimes), Laurie Holden (Andrea), Steven Yeun (Glenn), Chandler Riggs (Carl Grimes), Jeffrey DeMunn (Dale), Norman Reedus (Daryl Dixon), IronE Singleton (T-Dog), Melissa McBride (Carol Peletier), Lauren Cohan (Maggie Greene), Emily Kinney (Beth Greene), Scott Wilson (Hershel Greene), Madison Lintz (Sophia), James Allen McCune (Jimmy), Michael Rooker (Merle Dixon)

LogBook entry by Robert Parson

Categories
Season 1 Wizards vs. Aliens

Rebel Magic – Part 2

Wizards vs. AliensTom and Jackson Hawke return to Jackson’s house, finding that Benny followed Tom there – and so did the Nekross hunter Varg, who is holding Benny at gunpoint. Jackson urges Tom to use a darker magical force to banish Varg, and then Jackson himself uses the same kind of magic to erase Benny’s memory and send him on his way. The two young wizards plan to wait until sunrise for their magic to recharge, and then launch their own offensive against the Nekross aboard the Zarantulus. Benny, thinking that it’s that morning, goes to Tom’s house, where Ursula recognizes the spell that he’s been placed under and reverses it, learning of Jackson’s use of grim magic. At sunrise, the two wizards attack the Nekross ship with a spell, drawing the aliens’ attention enough to earn an invitation to deep space. Jackson plans to use grim magic to eliminate the Nekross forever – even if his continued use of it burns out his own mind.

Order the serieswritten by Joseph Lidster
directed by Griff Rowland
music by Sam Watts

Wizards vs. AliensCast: Scott Haran (Tom Clarke), Percelle Ascott (Benny Sherwood), Annette Badland (Ursula Crowe), Michael Higgs (Michael Clarke), Jefferson Hall (Varg), Gwendoline Christie (Lexi), Brian Blessed (voice of the Nekross King), Tim Rose (Nekross King puppeteer), Dan Starkey (Randal Moon), Andy Rush (Jackson Hawke), Claire Cage (Julia Hawke)

Notes: On the surface, it would appear that the concept of grim magic is interchangeable with the more familiar concept of “black magic”, though the latter term was probably omitted to avoid offending anyone (particularly those who are likely to protest any mention of magic in children’s entertainment to begin with).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Star Trek Star Trek Continues Star Trek Fan Films

To Boldly Go – Part II

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

Stardate 6995.1: Lana and Sentek are nearly successful in their takeover of the Enterprise bridge, stopped only by Lt. Smith, who reveals that she also has uplift powers – long dormant since her first exposure to the barrier five years ago – activated by the ship’s proximity to the barrier. Though Lana and Sentek abandon their takeover attempt and beam back to the Kongo, Kirk is wary enough of Smith’s revelation to confine her to sick bay. Spock hallucinates an encounter with the Romulan commander, trying to tempt him to leave Starfleet and return to Romulus with her, before realizing that the uplifted espers are capable of powerful mental manipulation from afar. Among this and other distractions, the Kongo attacks the Enterprise and does critical damage. Kirk devises a plan to separate the Enterprise‘s primary hull from its stardrive section, allowing for a triple-pronged attack on the Kongo in concert with the Romulans. Sentek contacts Spock and offers to hand over the surviving crew of the Kongo; Dr. McKennah agrees to trade herself as a hostage so she can try to reason with Lana. Only after McKennah has beamed over to the Kongo are the life signs of the Kongo crew revealed to be yet another deception, giving Sentek a live hostage and leaving Kirk and Spock empty-handed. Starfleet scrambles the U.S.S. Farragut and U.S.S. Potemkin – the last two remaining Constitution-class ships other than Enterprise and the Kongo – to engage the espers before they can reach Earth, but the crews of those two ships are tricked into firing upon one another. The Romulan commander’s second-in-command, suspecting that his commander’s continued presence on the Enterprise is a sign of further Federation treachery, fires on the Enterprise at point-blank range before his commander wrests control of the ship from him via remote access codes. A last-ditch plan is set into motion: Lt. Smith is beamed into the Kongo‘s engineering deck, where she begins sabotaging the ship’s power grid. When she is detected and attacked, Smith steps up her attack to a suicide mission, overloading the Kongo’s warp core at the cost of her own life. Scotty tries to beam McKennah over as the Kongo explodes, but as the destroyed ship leaves her nowhere to return, and the Enterprise‘s own systems have suffered massive damage, her transporter signal is lost, leaving Spock wracked with guilt for allowing her to beam to the Kongo while he was in command. Considering this a failure of his ability to rely on his human half’s gut feelings, Spock vows to return to Vulcan to undergo the Kolinahr, a final ritual purge of all emotion. McCoy elects to retire from Starfleet, having witnessed more death than he cares to. Kirk, upon returning to Earth, is offered a promotion to Admiral, which he accepts, giving up the command chair for a desk job as Chief of Starfleet Operations. The Enterprise limps back to spacedock to begin undergoing refits, ending Kirk’s five-year mission.

Watch Itteleplay by Robert J. Sawyer
story by Vic Mignogna & James Kerwin and Robert J. Sawyer
directed by James Kerwin
additional music by Vic Mignogna, Craig Huxley and Andy Farber

Star Trek ContinuesCast: Vic Mignogna (Captain Kirk), Todd Haberkorn (Mr. Spock), Chuck Huber (Dr. McCoy), Chris Doohan (Mr. Scott), Nicola Bryant (Lana), Cas Anvar (Sentek), Amy Rydell (Romulan Commander), Mark Meer (Tal), April Hebert (Rear Admiral Thesp), Marina Sirtis (Computer Voice), Grant Imahara (Sulu), Kim Stinger (Uhura), Wyatt Lenhart (Chekov), Michele Specht (McKennah), Steven Dengler (Drake), Martin Bradford (Dr. M’Benga), Kipleigh Brown (Smith), Reuben Langdon (Dickerson), Cat Roberts (Palmer), Liz Wagner (Nurse Burke), Adam Dykstra (Relief Helmsman), Emie Morissette (Relief Navigator), Michael Parker (Romulan Lieutenant), Star Trek ContinuesJessie Rusu (Transporter Chief), E. Patrick Hanavan III (Esper), Ed Obarowski (Esper), John Cerabino (Enterprise Crew), Sean Davis (Enterprise Crew), Amanda Denkler (Enterprise Crew), Savannah DePew (Enterprise Crew), Ashley Despot (Enterprise Crew), Natalie George (Enterprise Crew), Scott Grainger (Enterprise Crew), Ginger Holley (Enterprise Crew), Peter Lickteig (Enterprise Crew), B.J. Savage (Enterprise Crew), Thomas E. Surprenant (Enterprise Crew), Cassandra Tuten (Enterprise Crew), Kyle Warner (Enterprise Crew)

Star Trek ContinuesNotes: This final episode of Star Trek Continues effectively provides a series finale for the original series, leaving characters and situations in much the same state we find them in at the beginning of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. In addition to Motion Picture-era uniforms appearing prominently, there are even musical nods toward the first Star Trek movie in the form of musical contributions from electronic music pioneer Craig Huxley playing the Blaster Beam, the unearthly instrument heard prominently in the scores of Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek II.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Rebels Season 4 Star Wars

Rebel Assault

Star Wars: RebelsMon Mothma finally commits an attack force to destroy the TIE Defender factory on Lothal, in an effort to prevent the Empire’s new fighter from making it into mass production. Hera leads Phoenix Squadron into battle while Ezra, Kanan, Sabine, Zeb and Ryder begin destroying Imperial ground defenses on the surface. When Hera’s squadron is forced down onto Lothal, Grand Admiral Thrawn dispatches Rukh to hunt down the survivors. Kanan decides he alone has to go back to save her…but he may already be too late.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Dave Filoni & Steven Melching
directed by Steward Lee
music by Kevin Kiner
additional music by David Russell, Sean Kiner, and Dean Kiner
based on original themes and music by John Williams

RebelsCast: Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Vanessa Marshall (Hera Syndulla), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Kanan Jarrus / Phoenix Five “Duke”), Tiya Sircar (Sabine Wren), Steve Blum (Zeb Orrelios / Commander Woldar / Stormtrooper #1), Anna Graves (Citizen / Phoenix Four “Cleat”), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (Governor Pryce), Lars Mikkelsen (Grand Admiral Thrawn), Zachary Gordon (Imperial Technician #1 / Mart Mattin), Dave Filoni (Imperial Technician #2), Warwick Davis (Rukh), Clancy Brown (Ryder Azadi), Stephen Stanton (Stormtrooper Commander / Stormtrooper #2 / Transport Driver), Mario Vernazza (Vult Skerris)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Mandalorian, The Season 2

Chapter 11: The Heiress

Star Wars: The MandalorianThe Razor Crest arrives as the frog woman’s home world of Trask, but due to the damage it took on the ice planet, its landing at the local spaceport is less than elegant, and much of what the Mandalorian earns from ferrying the frog woman home will have to be spent on repairs. As a water planet, Trask also has healthy populations of Mon Calamari and Quarren, and while treating the Child to lunch, the Mandalorian resumes his search for others of his kind. A Quarren offers to take the Mandalorian to a Mandalorian covert on Trask, but the journey can only be made by sea – and naturally, it’s a trap, but one that is thwarted by other Mandalorians. When the leader of his rescuers removes her helmet, it offends him, until she explains that the ancient Mandalorian custom of never removing one’s helmet is considered a throwback observed only by a particularly zealous religious order of Mandalorians. The female Mandalorian, Bo Katan, is leading a few of her kind in an effort to overcome Imperial interference on Mandalore itself, and she seeks help in preventing an Imperial ship carrying weapons from taking off. But for all of Bo Katan’s claims that he’s a zealot, the Mandalorian discovers that she is just as driven to locate something of hers that was taken by a particular Imperial officer.

The Mandalorianwritten by Jon Favreau
directed by Bryce Dallas Howard
music by Ludwig Goransson

Cast: Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian), Amy Sedaris (Peli Motto), Misty Rosas (Frog Lady performance artist), Mercedes Varnado (Koska Reeves), Katee Sackhoff (Bo-Katan Kryze), Simon Kassianides (Axe Woves), Titus Welliver (Imperial Captain), Giancarlo Esposito (Moff Gideon), John Cameron (Frog Man performance artist), Norwood Cheek (Mon Calamari Server), Kevin Dorff (Deck Officer), Alexander Wraith (Freighter Pilot), Philip Alexander (Security Officer)

The MandalorianNotes: Bo-Katan – voiced by Battlestar Galactica veteran Katee Sackhoff and played by her in live action for the first time here – was last seen, Darksaber in hand, in the Star Wars: Rebels episode Heroes Of Mandalore Part 2 (2017). She gives the Mandalorian a lead on where to find Ahsoka Tano, also last seen in Rebels (albeit in its final episode).

LogBook entry by Earl Green