Day: December 24, 1967

Categories
Classic Series Prisoner, The

Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling

The PrisonerNumber Six learns of a manhunt for a scientist who has perfected a means of transferring one subject’s mind to the body of another – a technology which the Village already possesses. When a foreign dignitary visits the Village, Number Six is forced to undergo the procedure, placing his knowledge and personality in the foreigner’s body, and is unleashed in the outside world on a mission to find the scientist. If Number Six fails in his assignment, he will never return to his own body.

written by Vincent Tilsley
directed by Pat Jackson
music by Ron Grainer and Albert Elms

Cast: Patrick McGoohan (Number Six), Clifford Evans (Number Two), Nigel Stock (The Colonel), Zena Walker (Janet), Hugo Schuster (Seltzman), John Wentworth (Sir Charles), James Bree (Villiers), Lloyd Lamble (Stapleton), Patrick Jordan (Danvers), Lockwood West (Camera shop manager), Frederic Abbott (Potter), Gertan Klauber (Waiter), Henry Longhurst (Old guest), Danvers Walker (New man), John Nolan (Young guest)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Radio Series

Episode 7 (Fit The Seventh)

Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy: Secondary PhaseArthur and Ford are trapped on prehistoric Earth, watching the ship of Golgafrincham middle-men lay the groundwork for what will, depressingly enough, eventually become humanity. Evolution turns out to be a saving grace for Zaphod Beeblebrox, however, as he was eaten by a rapidly evolving life form which handily turned into an escape pod. Zaphod makes his way to Ursa Minor Beta, where the home offices of the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy are located. It seems Zaphod received a message from himself, instructing him to come here and seek out a man named Zarniwoop. But when Zaphod arrives at the Guide offices, his luck begins to run out quickly – he meets up with Marvin yet again, is stuck in the building when Frogstar fighters begin to bomb it to smithereens, and is still stuck in the building when it’s carved right out of the surface of the planet to be whisked away to the Frogstar itself.

Order this CDwritten by Douglas Adams
directed by Alick Hale-Munro
music by Paddy Kingsland

Cast: Peter Jones (The Voice of the Book), Simon Jones (Arthur Dent), Geoffrey McGivern (Ford Prefect / Frogstar Robot), Stephen Moore (Marvin), Mark Wing-Davey (Zaphod Beeblebrox), Bill Patterson (Assistant Arcturan pilot), David Tate (Arcturan Captain / Receptionist / Lift), Alan Ford (Roosta)

Notes: Aired as a Christmas special near the end of 1978 – over a year before the five episodes that make up the second series proper – the seventh episode of Hitchhiker’s Guide is still considered a part of the second series by many. It was originally intended to tie into the story of the birth of Jesus, with a spaceborne Marvin burning up in Earth’s atmosphere to provide the “star” followed by the three wise men. Despite coming up with the idea, Douglas Adams later said he felt it would have been in poor taste, and devised a story with clearer links to what he had planned for the second series. The second series didn’t air until January 1980.

Categories
Season 1 Torchwood

Combat

TorchwoodA series of deaths corresponding to Weevil attacks may be an indication that the rift is widening. Based on the evidence at hand, Jack thinks that Weevils are coming through the rift, being captured and then used as untraceable murder weapons. Even an attempt to use the one Weevil that Torchwood has in captivity fails, and so Owen is assigned to go undercover to find out more about a warehouse where the latest victim’s body was found. Posing as a businessman seeking warehouse space on the wharf, Owen meets Mark Lynch, an enigmatic but successful entrepreneur who complains that even wealth and power don’t satisfy him. He introduces Owen to a secret organization in which men who feel emasculated by modern life try to regain their manhood – by surviving a cage match with a captured Weevil. When Lynch discovers that there’s more to Owen than meets the eye, he decides that Owen will be the next gladiator.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Noel Clarke
directed by Andy Goddard
music by Murray Gold & Ben Foster

Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Burn Gorman (Owen Harper), Naoko Mori (Toshiko Sato), Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Alex Hassell (Mark Lynch), Paul Kasey (Weevil), Alexandra Dunn (Barmaid), Matthew Raymond (Boyfriend), David Gyasi (Hospital Patient)

Notes: Writer and actor Noel Clarke, who was also behind the screenplay of the acclaimed (and somewhat controversial) film Kidulthood, is better known to Doctor Who fans in the role of Mickey Smith, Rose’s boyfriend during the first two seasons of that series’ revival. Elements of the story strongly resemble the novel Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, upon which the popular movie of the same name was based.

LogBook entry by Earl Green