Categories
Original Series Season 01 Star Trek

The Galileo Seven

Star Trek ClassicStardate 2821.5: A shuttle commanded by Spock crash-lands on a savage planet where members of the shuttle crew are in immediate danger from the local life forms. The Enterprise must leave the area as soon as possible to deliver a much needed vaccine to a plague-stricken planet, and Commissioner Ferris insists that Kirk leave the Galileo crew for dead and get underway to the Enterprise’s next destination. Meanwhile, Spock faces a command situation where total logic and rationality may be of no use if the crew of the shuttle is to return to the Enterprise.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxteleplay by Oliver Crawford and S. Bar-David
story by Oliver Crawford
directed by Robert Gist
music by Alexander Courage

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), Don Marshall (Boma), John Crawford (Commissioner Ferris), Peter Marko (Gaetano), Phyllis Douglas (Yeoman Mears), Rees Vaughn (Latimer), Grant Woods (Kelowitz), Buck Maffei (Creature), David Ross (Transporter Chief)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Original Series Season 01 Star Trek

The Squire of Gothos

Star Trek ClassicStardate 2124.5: The Enterprise crew discovers that the ship cannot escape orbit of a planet that doesn’t even exist on the star charts. Kirk and a landing party beam down to the surface of the mysterious planet and their captor is revealed to be the immature but powerful Trelane, who initially seems to be a student of ancient Earth history (as demonstrated by his 17th century mansion, clothes and furnishings). Kirk, discovering that Trelane’s hold on the Enterprise comes from a power far beyond 23rd century technology, must try to beat Trelane at his own game, but Trelane rewrites the rules constantly to make sure he’s winning.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Paul Schneider
directed by Don McDougall
music by Alexander Courage

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), William Campbell (Trelane), Richard Carlyle (Jaeger), Michael Barrier (DeSalle), Venita Wolf (Teresa)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 04 Doctor Who

The Underwater Menace

Doctor WhoJamie’s first trip in the TARDIS is anything but uneventful, as the timeship brings the Doctor and friends to a volcanic outcropping in the middle of the ocean on Earth. The time travelers are quickly captured taken to an underground city, which they soon realize is Atlantis. The somewhat backward natives seem friendly enough, but they also seem intent on sacrificing the newcomers to the patron goddess of their island. Salvation comes from an unlikely source – a scientist called Zaroff rescues them, but then reveals his plan to cause the Earth to explode by draining the world’s oceans into a shaft leading straight to the planet’s molten core. Zaroff has also been performing horrific experiments to turn the locals into an enslaved population of Fish People. Now on the run from both Zaroff and the Atlanteans, the Doctor and his friends realize that their only hope of escape – and of stopping Zaroff’s mad scheme – may lie with liberating the Fish People. But when Zaroff is so intent on destroying the world, can anything really be a deterrent to his plan?

written by Geoffrey Orme
directed by Julia Smith
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Joseph Furst (Professor Zaroff), Catherine Howe (Ara), Tom Watson (Ramo), Peter Stephens (Lolem), Colin Jeavons (Damon), Gerald Taylor (Damon’s Assistant), Graham Ashley (Overseer), Tony Handy, Alex Donald, Tony Douglas (Guards), Paul Anil (Jacko), P.G. Stephens (Sean), Noel Johnson (Thous), Roma Woodnutt (Nola), Bill Burridge (Executioner Priest), Jimmy Mack (Refugee Priest)

Broadcast from January 14 through February 4, 1967

Note: While the Doctor wasn’t mad about Zaroff’s idea to drain the oceans of the Earth into the core of the planet, he was much more sympatico with the idea of draining at least the Thames into the Earth’s core to destroy the emerging children of the Empress of Racnoss in 2006’s The Runaway Bride. This story is quietly sidestepped by other future entries in the Doctor Who canon, including the Jon Pertwee story The Time Monster, which offers a completely different story of the destruction of Atlantis. The master tapes of this story were destroyed by the BBC in the early 1970’s, and only episode 3 and a handful of select clips from episodes 1, 2 and 4 remain intact.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Original Series Season 01 Star Trek

Arena

Star Trek ClassicStardate 3045.6: Arriving at a Federation planet at the request of a starbase director, the Enterprise finds a devastated world with only one survivor, who reveals that any summons Kirk received to visit the planet must have been a trap. The Enterprise locates and pursues an alien vessel right past the borders of the apparently omnipotent Metrons, who halt the ensuing battle and force Kirk and the captain of the other vessel – a huge, reptilian Gorn – to settle their differences in hand-to-hand combat…a prospect which immediately leaves Kirk at a disadvantage. Should he lose, the crew of the Enterprise will be destroyed.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxteleplay by Gene L. Coon
from a story by Frederic Brown
directed by Joseph Pevney
music by Alexander Courage

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), Jerry Ayres (O’Herlihy), Grant Woods (Kelowitz), Tom Troupe (Lt. Harold), James Farley (Lang), Carole Shelyne (Metron), Sean Kenney (DePaul)

Notes: This episode was already in pre-production by the time the producers realized that it closely paralleled Frederic Brown’s novel “Enemy Mine”; they offered him screen credit and payment to ensure that their use of the story was above-board, and he happily accepted. “Enemy Mine” itself was later adapted into a movie.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Original Series Season 01 Star Trek

Tomorrow Is Yesterday

Star Trek ClassicStardate 3113.2: Accidentally swinging around the sun into a time warp, the Enterprise’s crew recover from their turbulent journey and find themselves in Earth’s atmosphere in the 1960s over North America. Jets are dispatched to bring the “UFO” down, and one is caught in the ship’s tractor beam and begins to break apart. The pilot, Captain John Christopher, is beamed out of his plane before it disintegrates and is welcomed to the Enterprise as the crew prepares to return to the 23rd century. Kirk tells Christopher that he cannot be returned to his own time because he has seen too much of the future, but Spock discovers that Christopher will have a son who will be very important to the history of the space program and Christopher must be returned to 20th century Earth.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by D.C. Fontana
directed by Michael O’Herlihy
music by Alexander Courage

Star TrekCast: 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), Roger Perry (Major Chistopher), Hal Lynch (Air Police Sergeant), Richard Merrifield (Technician), John Winston (Transporter Chief), Ed Peck (Col. Fellini), Mark Dempsey (Air Force Captain), Jim Spencer (Air Policeman), Sherri Townsend (Crew Woman)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Original Series Season 01 Star Trek

Court-Martial

Star Trek ClassicStardate 2947.3: Kirk is accused of murder when the Enterprise’s records officer, Lt. Commander Finney, is apparently jettisoned during a violent ion storm which threatened the ship. Kirk insists that he gave Finney even more time than safely allowed to get out of the jettisoned ion pod, yet the Enterprise computer’s records show that Kirk discarded the pod, and Finney, while only at yellow alert when there was no sign of actual danger. Kirk challenges the findings of the computer and is court-martialed, with accusations that earlier rivalries with Finney when both were new officers caused Kirk to act maliciously – and even Kirk’s attorney, Cogley, may not be able to convince the court that the error may have been the computer’s.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxteleplay by Don M. Mankiewicz and Steven W. Carabatsos
story by Don M. Mankiewicz
directed by Marc Daniels
music by Alexander Courage

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), Percy Rodriguez (Portmaster Stone), Elisha Cook (Samuel T. Cogley), Joan Marshall (Areel Shaw), Richard Webb (Lt. Commander Ben Finney), Hagan Beggs (Helmsman), Winston DeLugo (Timothy), Alice Rawlings (Jame Finney), Nancy Wong (Personnel Officer), Bart Conrad (Krasnovsky), William Meader (Board Officer), Reginald Lal Singh (Board Officer)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Original Series Season 01 Star Trek

Return of the Archons

Star Trek ClassicStardate 3156.2: Sulu and another crewman are investigating a primitive but ancient-Earth-like alien culture incognito, but their disguise is blown and they’re running for their lives. The Enterprise can’t beam Sulu up in time, and he is hit by a weapon on the planet which leaves him under the control of something or someone called Landru. Kirk and Spock beam down, finding the planet’s people engaged in unusual rituals, and also finding out from some of the locals that Landru has complete control over most everyone on the planet, aside from a small resistance effort. What begins as an effort to free the people on the planet becomes a matter of survival when Kirk and Spock become hunted by Landru’s “puppets.”

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxteleplay by Boris Sobelman
story by Gene Roddenberry
directed by Joseph Pevney
music by Alexander Courage

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), Harry Townes (Reger), Torin Thatcher (Marplon), Brioni Farrell (Tula), Sid Haig (First Lawgiver), Charles Macaulay (Landru), Jon Lormer (Tamar), Morgan Farley (Hacom), Christopher Held (Lindstorm), Sean Morgan (O’Neil), Ralph Maurer (Bilar), David L. Ross (Guard)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 04 Doctor Who

The Moonbase

Doctor WhoThe TARDIS lands on the surface of the moon in the year 2070, and the Doctor provides Ben, Polly and Jamie with pressure suits so they can explore outside the TARDIS. They spot a massive lunar base in the distance, but when Jamie damages his space suit, reaching the base becomes a matter of urgency. Inside the base, the Doctor and his friends are shocked to find that Jamie won’t be alone in the sick bay – a plague is sweeping through the moonbase’s population seemingly at random, leaving those it strikes comatose. Worse yet, even the comatose patients have been disappearing without a trace, leaving the base – whose gigantic Gravitron controls the tides and governs Earth’s weather – dangerously short-staffed. The Doctor tries to find out what disease is slowly claiming the moonbase’s crew, only to find that the base has been deliberately infected by the Cybermen, who intend to take control of the base and use it as a staging area for an invasion of Earth.

written by Kit Pedler
directed by Morris Barry
music not credited

Guest Cast: Patrick Barr (Hobson), Andre Maranne (Benoit), Michael Wolf (Nils), John Rolfe (Sam), Alan Rowe (Dr. Evans, Space Control voice), Mark Heath (Ralph), Barry Ashton, Derek Calder, Arnold Chazen, Leon Maybank, Victor Pemberton, Edward Phillips, Ron Pinnell, Robin Scott, Alan Wells (Crew), John Wills, Peter Greene, Reg Whitehead, Keith Goodman, Sonnie Willis, Ronald Lee, John Clifford, Barry Noble (Cybermen), Peter Hawkins (Cyberman voice), Denis McCarthy (Controller Rinberg’s voice)

Broadcast from February 11 through March 4, 1967

Note: The master tapes of episodes 1 and 3 were destroyed by the BBC in the early 1970’s, leaving only episodes 2 and 4 in the archives. The missing episodes are still available as audio recordings, and are presented in that form both on CD and on the Lost In Time DVD set.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Original Series Season 01 Star Trek

Space Seed

Star Trek ClassicStardate 3141.9: The Enterprise discovers a derelict vessel which turns out to be an Earth ship dating back to a series of wars in the 1990s in which Earth’s population was threatened by a group of genetically engineered superhuman beings. The inhabitants of the rogue ship, though they try to conceal the fact at every opportunity, are the only surviving oppressors from that war. Their leader, Khan, wishes to resume their reign of terror, beginning with a takeover of the Enterprise.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxteleplay by Gene L. Coon and Carey Wilbur
story by Carey Wilbur
directed by Marc Daniels
music by Alexander Courage

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), Ricardo Montalban (Khan), Madlyn Rhue (Marla), Blaisdell Makee (Spinelli), Mark Tobin (Joaquin), Kathy Ahart (Crew Woman), John Winston (Transporter Chief Kyle)

Note: This story was the basis for the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Also, at some point during this episode, a pregnant tardigrade arrives aboard the Enterprise, unnoticed by any of the ship’s crew (Short Treks: Ephraim And DOT).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Original Series Season 01 Star Trek

A Taste of Armageddon

Star Trek ClassicStardate 3192.1: The Enterprise visits the twin planets of Eminiar VII and Vendikar so Ambassador Fox may approach their governments about joining the Federation. When they beam down to Eminiar 7, Kirk, Spock and the rest of their landing party are informed that the Enterprise has been struck by enemy missiles and Kirk’s party, along with the rest of the crew, have been declared casualties. Investigating further, Kirk discovers that the war between the two planets is controlled by computers, which determine the damage done and the fatalities caused by the attacks, and assigns citizens to report to disintegration machines, which they do willingly. Kirk is trapped on the planet, but Ambassador Fox thinks he can remedy the situation and beams down unarmed against Scotty’s advice.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxteleplay by Robert Hammer and Gene L. Coon
story by Robert Hammer
directed by Joseph Pevney
music by Alexander Courage

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), David Opatoshu (Anan 7), Gene Lyons (Ambassador Fox), Barbara Babcock (Mea 3), Miko Mayama (Tamula), David L. Ross (Galloway), Sean Kenney (DePaul), Robert Sampson (Sar 6)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Original Series Season 01 Star Trek

This Side Of Paradise

Star Trek ClassicStardate 3417.3: Investigating a colony whose settlers should be, but for some reason are not, threatened by radiation, Kirk and a landing party beam down to investigate. McCoy diagnoses the colonists as being in fine health and none of them wish to leave, no matter how much danger they are in. Spock, with Leila, an old acquaintance who has a crush on him, is infested by spores from a plant while examining the colony grounds. McCoy also soon falls victims to the spores, which leave their victims – even Spock – in a stupor with no desire to leave…and Kirk is left with a ship and no crew.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxteleplay by D.C. Fontana
story by Nathan Butler and D.C. Fontana
directed by Ralph Serensky
music by Alexander Courage

Star TrekCast: 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), Jill Ireland (Leila), Frank Overton (Elias Sandoval), Grant Woods (Kelowitz), Michael Barrier (DeSalle), Dick Scotter (Painter), Eddie Paskey (Crewman)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Original Series Season 01 Star Trek

Devil in the Dark

Star Trek ClassicStardate 3196.1: A mining colony reports a number of mysterious deaths just after they successfully dig to a lower level of a planetoid believed to be uninhabited. The Enterprise arrives, and Kirk, Spock and security officers from the ship begin a hunt for whoever or whatever is responsible for the growing body count. An amorphous creature capable of burning through the indigenous rock is found to be the cause of the deaths as well as a very well-thought out sabotage of the miners’ life support systems. Through a mind-meld, Spock communicates with the being – known as the Horta – and finds that it is the last of its kind, a mother laying eggs in the tunnels and caves it builds for itself. But the humans have been discovering and destroying the eggs, and if the Horta cannot bring herself to negotiate with the miners, one party or the other faces extinction.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Gene L. Coon
directed by Joseph Pevney
music by Alexander Courage

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), Ken Lynch (Vanderberg), Brad Weston (Appel), Biff Elliot (Schmitter), George E. Allen (Engineer #1), Jon Cavett (Guard), Barry Russo (Giotto)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 04 Doctor Who

The Macra Terror

Doctor WhoIn the future, the Doctor, Jamie, Ben and Polly arrive at a human colony, whose people find them just as they catch up with a refugee named Medok. Medok is treated like a criminal, and even as the colonists show the time travelers their miraculous machines, Medok warns of creatures that stalk the colony. The Doctor later sets him free, much to the consternation of the colony’s leaders. He follows Medok to a construction site outside the colony, where he discovers enormous, crab-like creatures called Macra. As the Doctor’s friends sleep, a hypnotic voice extolls the virtues of obeying the colony rules; when they awaken, Ben betrays the Doctor to the colony authorities. Polly flees and Ben pursues her, but once they catch a glimpse of the Macra, even Ben can no longer deny that this colony is under the control of aliens. Jamie escapes into a shaft where the colonists mine a poisonous gas that none of them can breathe – but the Macra can breathe it, and they’ve seized control of the colonists’ minds to ensure that their supply of gas continues. But the Doctor can convince the innocent colonists of none of this.

written by Ian Stuart Black
directed by John Davies
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Peter Jeffrey (Pilot), Graham Armitage (Barney), Ian Fairburn (Questa), Jane Enshawe (Sunnae), Sandra Bryant, Karol Keyes (Chicki), Maureen Lane (Majorette), Terence Lodge (Medok), Gertan Klauber (Ola), Graham Leaman (Controller), Anthony Gardner (Alvis), Denis Goacher (Control voice), Richard Beale (Broadcast voice), Robert Jewell (Macra), John Harvey (Official), John Caesar, Steve Emerson, Danny Rae (Guards), Roger Jerome, Terry Wright, Ralph Carrigan (Cheerleaders), Linda Reynolds (Pilot’s secretary), Paul Phillips (Scientist), Nina Huby (Girl)

Broadcast from March 11 through April 1, 1967

Note: The master tapes of this story were destroyed by the BBC in the early 1970’s, and only select clips remain intact.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Original Series Season 01 Star Trek

Errand of Mercy

Star Trek ClassicStardate 3198.4: A sudden attack by the Klingons on a vulnerable neutral sector – a location of great strategic importance – puts the Enterprise on red alert, as the threat of another catastrophic war between the Klingon Empire and the Federation looms. Kirk and Spock beam down to Organia, the planet whose security is at risk due to the Klingon threat, and find that the inhabitants, who appear to be humans who have reached the medieval period of sociological and technological development, are not at all concerned that their world is currently being overrun by Klingon troops. Kirk and Spock try to conceal their identities, but fail, leaving Kirk and Klingon Captain Kor at each others’ throats – until the Organians reveal their true nature and intervene in the impending war.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Gene L. Coon
directed by John Newland
music by Alexander Courage

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 Abbott (Ayelbourne), John Colicos (Kor), Peter Brocco (Claymare), Victor Lundiw (Lieutenant), David Hillary Hughes (Trefayne), Walt Davis (Klingon Soldier), George Sawaya (Second Soldier)

Notes: This episode introduces the Klingons to Star Trek. John Colicos makes two further appearances in the role of Kor in the Deep Space Nine episodes Blood Oath and The Sword of Kahless. The first bloody war between the Klingons and the Federation is chronicled in the first season of Star Trek: Discovery, and one of its chief combatants was Kol, a member of the Klingon House of Kor; Kol’s death (Into The Forest I Go, 2017) may explain some of Kor’s warlike zeal here.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Original Series Season 01 Star Trek

The Alternative Factor

Star Trek ClassicStardate 3087.6: The Enterprise encounters brief but intense turbulence after entering orbit above an uninhabited world. Kirk leads a landing party to the surface to investigate any possible connection between the planet and the disturbance, and they find a man named Lazarus, who, though he seems healthy and normal, claims to be fighting his own equivalent from a universe of antimatter. Lazarus proves to be a threat to the Enterprise’s security, and the increasing blasts of turbulence seem to confirm Lazarus’s story that he has a powerful enemy in another dimension.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Don Ingalls
directed by Gerd Oswald
music by Alexander Courage

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), Robert Brown (Lazarus), Janet MacLachlan (Charlene Masters), Richard Deer (Barstow), Arch Whiting (Asst. Engineer), Christian Patrick (Transporter Chief), Eddie Paskey (Lesley)

Notes: Robert Brown had to take the role of Lazarus on very short notice; actor John Barrymore was originally contracted to play the part, but failed to show up on the shooting dates, earning a rare censure from the Screen Actors’ Guild and putting himself out of work for months. In the end, The Alternative Factor guest starred an alternative actor.

LogBook entry by Earl Green