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Original Series Season 02 Star Trek

A Wolf In The Fold

Star Trek ClassicStardate 3614.9: After suffering a head injury on the Enterprise, Scotty is talking into shore leave with Kirk and McCoy. On the planet they are visiting, however, a series of grisly murders of local women begins, and all the evidence seems to point to Scotty. Kirk must contend with the overwhelming evidence against Scotty as well as the overzealous local constable, who is ready to have Scotty punished as soon as possible.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Robert Bloch
directed by Joseph Pevney
music by Gerald Fried

Cast: William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), DeForest Kelley (Dr. Leonard McCoy), James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), John Fielder (Hengist), Charles Macauley (Jaris), Pilar Stewart (Sybo), Charles Dierkop (Morla), Joseph Bernard (Tark), Tania Lemani (Kara), John Winston (Transporter Chief Kyle), Virginia Aldridge (Karen Tracy), Judy MocConnell (Yeoman Tankris), Judi Sherven (Nurse)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Starlost, The

Farthing’s Comet

The StarlostThe Ark rocks violently, and Devon rushes to the nearest sphere projector to ask the ship’s computer what caused the impact. The computer only replies cryptically that the Ark is “under attack,” referring all other questions on the matter to the ship’s chief astronomer, to whom the computer also guides Devon and his friends. They discover that this astronomer, Dr. Linus Farthing, has managed to exert some measure of control over the course of the Ark, but only to put it on a dangerously close heading alongside a massive comet he wishes to study. Farthing is largely unconcerned with the damage being caused to the Ark, even when reports of ruptured environmental domes begin to filter in – given the chance of colliding with a star or with a comet, he has opted for the comet, despite the high likelihood that everyone aboard the Ark will still die. Devon demands that Farthing use his engines to reverse his course and back off from the comet, but as those engines have also been damaged, someone will have to repair them – and Farthing seems only too happy to let the three “primitives” suit up for a hazardous spacewalk.

Get this season on DVDwritten by Norman Klenman
directed by Ed Richardson
music by Score Productions Ltd.

Guest Cast: Ed Andrews (Dr. Linus Farthing), Linda Sorenson (Dr. McBride), Allen Stewart-Coates (Voice), William Osler (The Host)

Notes: Whereas earlier episodes referred to the Ark’s reactors as a power source, this episode seems to use the term “reactors” in a context that implies reaction control engines, small engines (actually used since the dawn of manned spaceflight) allowing minute changes in attitude but not designed to impart significant thrust for a course change. This episode also marks the unusual appearance of the massive miniature filming model of the Ark in an interior set, apparently as a device to allow the crew to monitor damage. As usual, it is shown only from the right side, as The Starlost’s budget could only permit the modelmakers to finish and detail that side of the ship. Despite his having gained control of the ship’s computer in The Return Of Oro, Devon seems to once again have only limited cooperation from the computer here.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 1 Star Blazers

Absolute Death: The Wishing Star Of Orion, Hell-Star

Star BlazersD minus 311 days: The Argo is ensnared in a gravitational space net and targeted by Gamilon missiles. Captain Avatar suddenly seems weakened and hesitant, and only the fast thinking – and even insubordination – of his crew saves the Argo. Dr. Sane bandages up a superficial wound for Avatar after the incident, but then privately gives the captain a warning: Avatar is beginning to succumb to the same radiation sickness that will claim all life on Earth within a year. The captain insists on keeping his condition under wraps, but cannot avoid Dr. Sane’s warning that he will eventually succumb to the radiation and become unfit to command. Desslok forces the Argo into a perfectly-planned trap…and at the most critical moment, Captain Avatar collapses, unable to give vital orders and still unwilling to admit his illness to the crew. And between crises, Nova finally admits her attraction to Wildstar, though the young officer is oblivious to her feelings.

Order the DVDswritten by Keisuke Fujikawa & Eiichi Yamamoto
directed by Leiji Matsumoto
music by Hiroshi Miyagawa

Season 1 Voice Cast: Kenneth Meseroll (Derek Wildstar), Tom Tweedy (Mark Venture), Amy Howard (Nova), Eddie Allen (Leader Desslok), Lydia Leeds (Starsha), other actors unknown

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 17 Doctor Who

The Horns Of Nimon – Part 1

Doctor WhoOne of the last mighty battlecruisers of the Skonnon Empire is being used to ferry a load of young slaves from the planet Aneth, until its already overworked engines are pushed past the breaking point, stalling the ship in space. By coincidence, the TARDIS is also at a dead stop in space nearby while the Doctor disassembles the time rotor for an overhaul. But a singularity in this area of space is drawing both ships together…toward their doom. Despite his reservations about repairing a slaver’s ship, the Doctor decides to err on the side of saving lives and repairs the ship – but as soon as he does, the surviving Skonnon co-pilot ditches the TARDIS and takes off with Romana still aboard.

Order this story on DVDDownload this episodewritten by Anthony Read
directed by Kenny McBain
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Tom Baker (The Doctor), Lalla Ward (Romana), David Brierly (voice of K9), Simon Gipps-Kent (Seth), Janet Ellis (Teka), Graham Crowden (Soldeed), Michael Osborne (Sorak), Malcolm Terris (Co-pilot), Bob Hornery (Pilot), Clifford Norgate (Nimon voices), John Bailey (Sezom), Robin Sherringham, Bob Appleby, Trevor St. John Hacker (Nimon)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Automan

Staying Alive While Running A High Flashdance Fever

AutomanWalter is riding along for a police operation targeting a powerful mob boss, but Captain Boyd leaves Walter at the side of the road (for his own safety) to continue the pursuit. Walter calls on Automan to help pursue the mob, but the trail leads somewhat paradoxically to the home of a powerful judge who has made a career out of putting the mob behind bars. Walter’s trail of evidence dead-ends because Automan naturally has to return to the digital world to recharge, leaving his human partner high and dry. New evidence arrives, leading Automan to Las Vegas…and possibly implicating the judge after all. Now Walter has to go to Vegas himself, and has to convince Lt. Curtis and Roxanne that he isn’t crazy for following this latest lead. And while he’s searching for clues among the Vegas nightlife, Automan takes on a smooth-dancing persona who proves popular with the ladies.

written by Glen A. Larson
directed by Winrich Kolbe
music by Stu Phillips / Automan Theme by Billy Hinsche and Stu Phillips

AutomanCast: Desi Arnaz Jr. (Walter Nebicher), Chuck Wagner (Automan), Heather McNair (Roxanne Caldwell), Gerald S. O’Loughlin (Capt. Boyd), Robert Lansing (Lt. Jack Curtis), Mary Crosby (Ellen Fowler), Don Gordon (Leonard Martin), Angela Aames (Bartender), Robert F. Lyons (Jason), William Windom (Judge Farnsworth), Jack Perkins (The Drunk), Jorge Cervera Jr. (Jackson), Jim Storm (The Driver), Bud Davis (Sieger), Gary Epper (Brandt)

AutomanNotes: Jack Sowards (1929-2007), co-writer of Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan and former writer for Bonanza and The Streets Of San Francisco, joins Automan as its executive story consultant, a function he also served on both of those shows as well as Falcon Crest. When Automan wants Walter to tell him what his astrological “sign” is, Walter replies “Tell them you’re an Apple II!” Songs heard in the background of the episode include Michael Sembello’s “Maniac”, Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”, and the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive”.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Jeremiah Season 2

The Past Is Prologue

JeremiahAgainst his better judgement, Kurdy takes on Chen Lee as backup for his next assignment, returning to a city where he once lived before his travels began with Jeremiah. Chen Lee still hasn’t regained the trust of anyone at Thunder Mountain since his betrayal of the alliance, but Kurdy finds that he’s not much more welcome when he returns to his old stomping grounds. He was a gang member there, but ran for his life – and watched his few friends die – when the gang went from foraging for survival necessities to cold-blooded murder. On the road, Jeremiah is stranded and looks for the nearest town, but when he finds shelter, he’s given drugged food and wakes up in a nicely-furnished home with a wife and son who aren’t his. Everything in the house claims that it’s 2004 – 17 years in the past – and even the woman who’s posing as his wife seems to think that every day she wakes up there is going to be a great day. But no one ever leaves the house, and Jeremiah realizes that this piece of the past is now his prison.

Order the DVDswritten by J. Michael Straczynski
directed by Mike Vejar
music by Tim Truman

Guest Cast: Stefanie von Pfetten (Sandra), Byron Lawson (Lee Chen), Enid-Raye Adams (Gina), Ronald Selmour (Ike), Kurt Evans (Ben), Eliza Norbury (Lisa), Brad Mooney (Jimmy), Patrick Gallagher (Tony), Travis Watters (Gang One), Ikkee Battle (Man), Anthony McRae (Cal)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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6th Doctor Doctor Who

Her Final Flight

Doctor Who: Her Final FlightA diversion in the time vortex throws the TARDIS off course, toward a rough landing on a distant backwater world. The Doctor steps out of the doors and almost immediately blacks out. When he comes to, he is stunned to find that he is being tended to by Peri, who he hasn’t seen since the ill-timed intervention of the Time Lords whisked him away for his trial and left her helpless – 19 years ago in her personal history. She escaped her situation and obtained a spacecraft, but it crash-landed here months ago. She also claims that the Doctor was found unconscious after falling off of a mountain ledge. To make matters worse, the TARDIS has been confiscated by the local religious leader, who has placed it in the village temple and claims it is the vessel of the villagers’ goddess. When the Doctor finally gains access to that temple – normally denied to those not instructed in the local faith – he’s horrified to see that the TARDIS’ outer shell has been critically damaged, leaking chronon radiation and causing deadly time distortions. The only way the Doctor may be able to save this society – and Peri – is to give up his travels and set the TARDIS to self-destruct…assuming the villagers will let him.

written by Julian Shortman
directed by Gary Russell
music by David Darlington
chants composed by Julian Shortman

Cast: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Steven Bugdale (The Agent), Jonathan Owen (Hamiyun), Heather Tracy (Rashaa), Conrad Westmaas (Damus)

Choir: St. James’s Singers

Timeline: after Mindwarp and before Time and the Rani

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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Audio Dramas Blake's 7 New Series - Main

Rebel

Blake's 7: RebelIn the distant future, the tyrannical Federation decides to do away with its most persistent opponent: freedom fighter Roj Blake. Blake is sentenced to exile on the prison colony planet Cygnus Alpha after a conveniently quick trial convicts him on false charges that he molested several children. Aboard the prison ship London en route to Cygnus Alpha, Blake meets fellow prisoners Jenna Stannis, a hard-bitten smuggler, and cynical computer expert Kerr Avon. When they’re enlisted as skilled cannon fodder for a mission to salvage an enormous alien spacecraft, the three prisoners take the opportunity to make an escape attempt. The Federation officer overseeing the prisoners, Mezen, is trapped aboard the alien ship with them. Blake decides to recruit more crew memebrs from the remaining prisoners ferried to Cygnus Alpha by the London, but he finds them under a different iron fist there, as prisoners already living there have set up their own strict society, ruling by the fear of God. Only two of the prisoners, master thief Vila Restal and convicted killer Oleg Gan, opt to join Blake’s crew. Across the galaxy, in the seat of power on Earth, Space Commander Travis – who hunted Blake before his capture by the Federation – warns the newly-promoted Supreme Commander Servalan that Blake is more of a threat than the Federation’s strategists think he is.

Order this story on CDwritten by Ben Aaronovitch
directed by Andrew Mark Sewell
music by Alistair Lock

Cast: Derek Riddell (Roj Blake), Colin Salmon (Kerr Avon), Carrie Dobro (Jenna Stannis), Dean Harris (Vila Restal), Owen Aaronovitch (Oleg Gan), India Fisher (Lora Mezin), Daniela Nardini (Servalan), Craig Kelly (Travis), Michael Praed (Soris), Tim Plester (Clinician Havant), Sarah Matravers (Revella), Jonathan Rhodes (Prosecutor), Dominic Cotter (Reporter), Robert Lock (Captain of the London), Daniel J. Geduld (Trooper Tanzig), Barbara Joslyn (Sheeva / Computer voices), Frances Barber (Judge Helga Ramotswe), James Gaddas (Sub-Commander Raiker), Nick Brimble (Borchu)

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
Of Gods And Men Star Trek Star Trek Fan Films

Of Gods And Men – Part One

Star Trek: Of Gods And Men

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

Stardate 6712.4: Captains Uhura, Chekov and Harriman convene for the dedication of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-M – a museum aboard a fully functional replica of the Constitution-class Enterprise – 12 years after the death of Captain Kirk aboard Harriman’s first command, the Enterprise-B. Echoing that tragic incident, a priority one distress call is received, and the Enterprise-M is the only ship capable of responding. As the museum’s Commander Kirk – the legendary captain’s nephew – remains aboard his ship, the three visiting captains beam down, discovering two reminders of the Enterprise’s past that they would rather have forgotten: the Guardian of Forever, and an adult Charlie Evans, who was left in the less-than-gentle care of the Thasians by Captain Kirk decades ago. Charlie sets out to change his own history, and starts by making sure that James T. Kirk will never be born.

Stardate not given: Captain John Harriman of the G.S.S. Conqueror captures two terrorists whose names are at the top of the Galactic Order’s most wanted list. With his mixed crew of humans, Klingons and Romulans, Harriman moves on to his next assignment: to deliver a message to the pacifistic secessionists of Vulcan. On Vulcan, Nyota Uhura feels an unusual twinge of worry about the planet’s secession from the Galactic Order, and after Vulcan’s orbital defenses are wiped out, it seems she has good reason to worry. The Conqueror is about to launch the devastating Omega Device to make an object lesson of the Vulcans: defy the Order at your own peril…

Watch Itstory by Sky Conway & Tim Russ and Jack Trevino & Ethan H. Calk
teleplay by Ethan H. Calk, Sky Conway & Jack Trevino
directed by Tim Russ
music by Justin R. Durban

Cast: Walter Koenig (Capt. Pavel Chekov), Nichelle Nichols (Capt. Nyota Uhura), Alan Ruck (Capt. John Harriman), Garrett Wang (Commander Garan), William Wellman Jr. (Charlie Evans), J.G. Hertzler (Koval), Gary Graham (Ragnar), Tim Russ (Tuvok), Chase Masterson (Xela), Crystal Allen (Conqueror Navigator Yara), Ethan Phillips (Data Clerk), Cirroc Lofton (Sevar), Lawrence Montaigne (Stonn), James Cawley (Commander Kirk), Jeff Quinn (Conqueror Helmsman), Seth Shostak (Enterprise Communications Officer), Shawn Shelton (voice of the Guardian of Forever), Crystal Conway (Grandchild), Madison Russ (Grandchild), Keith Batt (Navigator), Patrick Bell (Enterprise Helmsman), Giovanna Contini, David deFrane, Ronald Gates, Deborah Huth, Danielle Porter (Enterprise Bridge Crew), Sky Conway, Travis Sentell (Enterprise Security Officers), Jeanine Camargo, Heather C. Harris, Mindy Iden, Luke McRoberts, Moses Shepard (Vulcan Initiates), Elizabeth Cortez (T’Liel), Amy Ulen (Teacher), Rob Leslie, Joanna Mendoza, Linda Zaruches (Vulcan Citizens), Stewart Lucas, Scott Nakada (Conqueror Klingon Officers), Joel Bellucci, Tony Pavone (Conqueror Romulan Officers), Giovanna Contini (Conqueror Science Officer)

Review: Possibly the most eagerly anticipated Star Trek fan film project since New Voyages started welcoming top-line guests from the original series, Of Gods And Men is the brainchild of Tim “Tuvok” Russ, convention promoter/organizer Sky Conway, and two former DS9 scriptwriters, Ethan Calk and Jack Trevino. As with a great many Trek tributes centered around the Kirk era, Gods – or at least this first part of it – pivots on plot points introduced, but never resolved, by the original series. In this case, it’s the Guardian of Forever – which surely has to rank as the most imagination-stirring element to emerge from classic Trek, considering the number of books, fan films and other fiction that has revisited it – and Charlie X himself.