Year: 1981

Categories
Buck Rogers Season 2

The Satyr

Buck Rogers In The 25th CenturyA woman and her son are the only remaining colonists on a remote planet called Arcadus, where they are repeatedly terrorized by a half-goat, half-man creature called Pangor. Buck and Twiki visit the planet during an asteroid survey, and immediately after landing, Buck is attacked by a wolf-like creature native to the planet. Buck meets Syra and her son Delph, but at first they don’t tell him anything about Pangor. Buck finds out soon enough, however, when Pangor attacks the shuttle, damaging Twiki. Buck offers to take Syra and Delph away from Arcadus, but Syra refuses to leave, despite Pangor’s continued attacks. Buck disrupts Pangor’s next attack, but the satyr bites him during the ensuing fight; believing that he’s drowned Pangor, Buck returns to Syra’s house for medical treatment. Even now, Buck finds the Syra won’t leave – in fact, she’s mourning at the news that Pangor may be dead. Syra finally reveals the truth: Pangor was once known as Major Jason Samos, Earth colonist, and transformed into a satyr mere hours after becoming infected by something on Arcadus. But Buck is about to find out for himself that the infection came from a satyr bite…

Order the DVDswritten by Paul Schneider & Margaret Schneider
directed by Victor French
music by Bruce Broughton

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Colonel Wilma Deering), Thom Christopher (Hawk), Jay Garner (Admiral Asimov), Wilfred Hyde-White (Dr. Goodfellow), Felix Silla (Twiki), Jeff David (voice of Crichton), Anne E. Curry (Syra Samos), Dave Cass (Pangor), Bobby P. Lane (Delph Samos), Dennis Freeman (Midshipman)

Notes: Director Victor French starred alongside Michael Landon in both Little House On The Prairie and Highway To Heaven, and directed episodes of both; his directorial career also included episodes of Gunsmoke, Dallas, Fame, and the TV series adaptation of the movie Fantastic Journey.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Buck Rogers Season 2

Shgoratchx!

Buck Rogers In The 25th CenturyThe Searcher investigates a derelict spacecraft in the interstellar shipping lanes. When Buck, Hawk and Crichton board the ship, they find seven little problems and one big one. The ship is populated by six little men claiming to be generals, and one who serves as a lowly private – and the ship’s hold is full of rapidly deteriorating solar bombs, enough to wipe out everything within 20 million miles. The Searcher locks onto the derelict with its tractor beam, and the seven unlikely passengers are welcomed aboard where they promptly wreak havoc, playing with the controls and nearly ramming the Searcher into the bomb-laden derelict. Crichton is also damaged, his positronic brain seriously damaged, and even Dr. Goodfellow can’t repair him. Worse yet, the generals have telekinetic powers, which they use to do everything from escaping their locked quarters to removing Wilma’s clothes for “scientific examination.” Their antics put the ship in further danger by locking it on a collision course for the star used to dispose of the solar bombs.

Order the DVDswritten by William Keys
directed by Vincent McEveety
music by Bruce Broughton

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Colonel Wilma Deering), Thom Christopher (Hawk), Jay Garner (Admiral Asimov), Wilfred Hyde-White (Dr. Goodfellow), Felix Silla (Twiki), Jeff David (voice of Crichton), Tommy Madden (General Xenos), Alex Hyde-White (Ensign Moore), John Edward Allen (General Zoman), Tony Cox (Private Zedht), Billy Curtis (General Voomak), Harry Monty (General Sothoz), Spencer Russell (General Towtuk), Charles Secor (General Kuzan)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
National Public Radio Radio & Audio Dramas Star Wars

A Wind To Shake The Stars

Star WarsOn the distant desert planet of Tatooine, far from either the Galactic Empire or the Rebellion, Luke Skywalker lives the simple existence of a moisture farmer, toiling away on his Uncle Owen’s farm and trying to fit in with his friends at Anchorhead. Ever since his friend Biggs left to join the Imperial Academy, Luke’s been a bit of an outcast, and he doesn’t win many friends by beating the local bully in a high-speed canyon race. While working on the farm, Luke spots a fierce firefight in orbit of Tatooine, and tries to tell his friends about it, but as usual they blow him off. Biggs returns for a visit, and once they’re away from the others, Biggs tells Luke of a momentous decision – despite having graduated from the Imperial Academy, Biggs plans to jump ship on his first assignment and join the Rebellion.

Order this CDwritten by Brian Daley
based on the screenplay Star Wars by George Lucas
directed by John Madden
music by John Williams

Cast: Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Ann Sachs (Princess Leia Organa), Perry King (Han Solo), Bernard “Bunny” Behrens (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Brock Peters (Lord Darth Vader), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Keene Curtis (Grand Moff Tarkin), John Considine (Lord Tion), Stephen Elliott (Prestor), David Ackroyd (Captain Antilles), Adam Arkin (Fixer), Kale Brown (Biggs), David Clennon (Motti), Anne Gerety (Aunt Beru), Thomas Hill (Uncle Owen), David Paymer (Deak), Joel Brooks (Heater), John Dukakis (Rebel), Stephanie Steele (Cammie), Phillip Kellard (Customer #2)

Supporting Cast: James Blendick, Clyde Burton, Bruce French, David Alan Grier, Jerry Hardin, John Harkins, Meschach Taylor, Marc Vahanian, John Welsh, Kent Williams

Categories
Buck Rogers Season 2

The Hand Of Goral

Buck Rogers In The 25th CenturyA routine survey of an Earthlike planet turns up seemingly abandoned ruins, and one man who appears to be a human survivor. Crichton warns that the planet was called the planet of death by a long-extinct race called the Goral. Wilma returns to the Searcher with the survivor, while Buck and Hawk explore the ruins. An disorienting phenomenon on the planet convinces them to return to their ship as well, but what they find on the Searcher is even more disturbing: Admiral Asimov is arresting several members of the crew on suspicion of disloyalty and showing no mercy, and even the layout of the ship is different. Wilma appears to be unaffected at first, but even she exhibits behavior that Buck finds suspicious. He and Hawk manage to escape the Searcher and return to the planet of death, where an ancient being greets them – and tells them that they have successfully passed what is actually a test of intelligence and intuition. Now they must pass one more test – someone is sabotaging the Searcher, and they only have a little time to figure out who, and how.

Order the DVDswritten by Francis Moss
directed by David G. Phinney
music by Stu Phillips

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Colonel Wilma Deering), Thom Christopher (Hawk), Jay Garner (Admiral Asimov), Wilfred Hyde-White (Dr. Goodfellow), Felix Silla (Twiki), Jeff David (voice of Crichton), John Fujioka (Hand of the Goral), Peter Kastner (Reardon), William Bryant (Cowan), Dennis Haysbert (Lt. Parsons), Michael Horsley (Yeoman James)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
National Public Radio Radio & Audio Dramas Star Wars

Points Of Origin

Star WarsThe Tantive IV, a diplomatic ship from Alderaan, is forced to land on Ralltiir by an Imperial blockade. Princess Leia Organa is outraged, but bluffs her way past the Imperials, even using a keen knowledge of Imperial regulations to set Lord Tion, an Imperial officer, against Darth Vader, who has just arrived to crush a rebel uprising. Leia returns to Alderaan, where her father, Bail Organa, sympathizes with the rebellion but doesn’t wish to take up arms. Unfortunately, Lord Tion follows Leia to Alderaan, taken enough with her to propose marriage (with a side offer of Imperial protection for Alderaan), but the meeting turns sour when Tion learns that Leia and her father have not only sympathized with the rebels, but have aided them. In an ensuing struggle, Tion takes a fatal tumble from a balcony in the royal palace, and Bail realizes that Alderaan can no longer escape involvement in intergalactic affairs. He sends Leia, once again in the Tantive IV, to the planet Toprawa to steal the plans for a top-secret Imperial superweapon mentioned by Tion before his death.

Order this CDwritten by Brian Daley
based on the screenplay Star Wars by George Lucas
directed by John Madden
music by John Williams

See the first episode for cast information.

Categories
National Public Radio Radio & Audio Dramas Star Wars

Black Knight, White Princess, And Pawns

Star WarsThe Tantive IV makes a sudden stop in Imperial space, and two droids – astromech droid R2-D2 and interpreter C-3PO – are assigned to perform an important task for Princess Leia: R2-D2 is to act as if performing extravehicular repairs on the ship’s hull, though he’s actually receiving a secret rebel transmission containing detailed plans of the Empire’s top-secret Death Star project. Leia’s next stop is to present those plans – and a plea to come out of retirement – to General Obi-Wan Kenobi, a veteran of the Clone Wars living in seclusion on the planet Tatooine. But before the Tantive IV can make its escape, an Imperial Star Destroyer gives chase, bringing the ship to a halt. A platoon of stormtroopers, with Darth Vader behind them, boards the Tantive IV, killing most of the crew in the process. Desperate to keep the Death Star plans from being found in the ship’s computer, Leia hides them in R2-D2’s memory and instructs him to abandon ship in an escape pod. C-3PO, trying to dissuade the little droid from following those orders, winds up in the escape pod with him – and then finds himself on the surface of Tatooine. But aboard the Tantive IV, Princess Leia cannot escape capture – and interrogation by Vader.

Order this CDwritten by Brian Daley
based on the screenplay Star Wars by George Lucas
directed by John Madden
music by John Williams

See the first episode for cast information.

Categories
Buck Rogers Season 2

Testimony Of A Traitor

Buck Rogers In The 25th CenturyThe Searcher makes a return to Earth, and once refueled and resupplied the ship will return to its deep space exploration mission. But before the Searcher can set off again, the Commissioner of Earth’s war crimes tribunal grounds the ship and arrives to personally arrest Buck. An ancient audiovisual recording medium predating the holocaust, known as a “videotape,” is uncovered, and its still-intact contents implicate Buck in a conspiracy that led to the near-destruction of Earth in the late 20th century. The Commissioner convenes Buck’s trial aboard the Searcher, and makes it clear that based on the damning evidence, he intends to pursue the death penalty. Buck claims he remembers none of what is recorded on the tape, but even when he submits to a mind probe devised by Dr. Goodfellow to reveal his true memories of 20th century Earth, images of his apparent betrayal of his own country still inexplicably appear.

Order the DVDswritten by Stephen McPherson
directed by Bernard McEveety
music by Bruce Broughton

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Colonel Wilma Deering), Thom Christopher (Hawk), Jay Garner (Admiral Asimov), Wilfred Hyde-White (Dr. Goodfellow), Felix Silla (Twiki), Jeff David (voice of Crichton), Ramon Bieri (Commissioner Bergstrom), William Sylvester (Lt. General Preston Myers), David Hooks (General Arnheim), Walter Brooke (President of the United States), John Milford (Official), John O’Connell (Major Peterson), Thomas Bellin (Crawford), Buck Young (Brigadier General Biles), Carl Reindel (Air Force Sergeant), Eric Lawrence (Young Marine), Jim Emery (Marine Pilot), Dean Brooks (Marine Sergeant), Bill Andes (Colonel Turner)

Notes: The videotape identifies November 22nd, 1987 as the date of the nuclear war – and apparently in whatever alternate history Buck’s adventures took place in, gigantic top-loading VCRs were still in use. (It’s also an odd coincidence – the 24th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy – given the conspiratorial nature of the storyline.) Guest star William Sylvester had appeared in another SF favorite, playing the role of Dr. Heywood Floyd in 2001: a space odyssey.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
National Public Radio Radio & Audio Dramas Star Wars

While Giants Mark Time

Star WarsOn Tatooine, Threepio and Artoo bicker over the smaller droid’s constant chatter about an important mission, and Threepio finally leaves Artoo to his fate and wanders aimlessly through the desert. But the droids aren’t alone – Imperial troops have tracked the escape pod to the planet and have guessed that one or both droids are carrying the stolen Death Star plans. Threepio seeks refuge in a ground-roving transport – but is then picked up by Jawas to be resold as salvaged goods. Threepio gives away Artoo’s position to the Jawas, who pick him up as well. The Jawas take their scaveneged droids and equipment to auction off at the nearest settlement, a moisture farm belonging to Owen Lars. Artoo takes the liberty of sabotaging the only other mechanic droid – an R5 unit – to ensure that he’ll be freed from the Jawas and can then continue looking for General Kenobi. Owen buys both Artoo and Threepio and then entrusts them to Luke for cleaning and repairs before they begin working on the farm. During cleaning, Luke inadvertently triggers a holographic plea for help from Leia, recorded in Artoo’s memory, and Artoo protests that the message is meant for Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke suspects that a local hermit named Ben Kenobi may have some connection – but while Luke reports his suspicions to Owen, Artoo slips away from the Lars farm to continue his quest.

Order this CDwritten by Brian Daley
based on the screenplay Star Wars by George Lucas
directed by John Madden
music by John Williams

See the first episode for cast information.

Notes: Luke says that Uncle Owen once “ran Ben Kenobi off our property,” and later Owen warns Luke away from “talking to strangers about our family,” a couple of fascinating foreshadowing footnotes. Since the scripts for the Star Wars radio drama were written after the premiere of The Empire Strikes Back, more concrete hints could be dropped about the fate of Luke’s father.

Categories
Buck Rogers Season 2

The Dorian Secret

Buck Rogers In The 25th CenturyMoments before Buck finishes escorting the last of a group of survivors from a volcanic planet aboard a Searcher shuttle, a panicked young woman rushes into the docking bay, begging Buck to let her board. He lets her get on the ship and fights off a masked pursuer before boarding the shuttle himself; Hawk launches the shuttle immediately before further trouble can ensue. Even once the shuttle and its passengers return to the Searcher, no one is safe: a Dorian ship intercepts the Searcher and its captain demands that the woman be handed over to faces charges of murder. When Admiral Asimov refuses that demand, the Dorians ensnare the Searcher in a tractor beam and use a thermal weapon to subject the ship and its passengers to sudden extremes of temperature, extremes that Crichton predicts will be unsurvivable by human life within eight hours. Buck and Hawk tell Asimov that they do have a passenger that the Dorians – who always wear a mask in the presence of other species, allegedly to hide their hideous mutations – were already pursuing one of the shuttle’s passengers. Even with the Admiral’s defiance of the Dorian threat, some of the other survivors have decided to find and hand over the wanted woman to save their own skins.

Order the DVDswritten by Stephen McPherson
directed by Jack Arnold
music by Donald Woods

Cast: Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (Colonel Wilma Deering), Thom Christopher (Hawk), Jay Garner (Admiral Asimov), Wilfred Hyde-White (Dr. Goodfellow), Felix Silla (Twiki), Jeff David (voice of Crichton), Devon Ericson (Asteria Eleefa), Denny Miller (Saurus), William Kirby Cullen (Demeter)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
National Public Radio Radio & Audio Dramas Star Wars

Jedi That Was, Jedi To Be

Star WarsLuke and Threepio leave just before dawn to track down R2-D2. They find the little droid, but quickly come under attack from Tusken Raiders. Luke escapes being killed only when a howling sound scares the Tuskens away – a sound made by Ben Kenobi, who admits that he was once Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi. Ben takes Luke back to his secluded home, helps him repair damage Threepio received during the fight with the Tusken Raiders, and presents Luke with something that belonged to his father: a Jedi lightsaber. When Artoo replays Leia’s message for Ben, the old Jedi resolves to make the trip to Alderaan to help the rebels, but when he asks Luke to join him, Luke is more worried about his uncle’s reaction. But as he gives Ben a lift to Anchorhead to find a ship for the journey, Luke sees the first evidence that the Empire’s search for the missing droids is getting too close to home.

Order this CDwritten by Brian Daley
based on the screenplay Star Wars by George Lucas
directed by John Madden
music by John Williams

See the first episode for cast information.

Categories
National Public Radio Radio & Audio Dramas Star Wars

The Millennium Falcon Deal

Star WarsWith his aunt and uncle dead at the hands of the Empire, Luke accompanies Ben Kenobi to Mos Eisley Spaceport, a disreputable place where Ben hopes to find a ship to Alderaan. A space pilot points Ben in the direction of a huge Wookiee, Chewbacca, who serves as the co-pilot on the Millennium Falcon, a Corellian freighter. Ben is introduced to Han Solo, a cocky space pilot who quickly clears his schedule when Ben promises a small fortune in exchange for a ride to Alderaan. After the deal is closed, Ben and Luke go back into hiding until Solo is ready for liftoff – and Imperial stormtroopers close in on Mos Eisley in their hunt for the droids. But they’re not the only ones being hunted, as a bounty hunter named Greedo is on the trail of Han Solo.

Order this CDwritten by Brian Daley
based on the screenplay Star Wars by George Lucas
directed by John Madden
music by John Williams

See the first episode for cast information.

Categories
Phoenix, The

The Phoenix

The PhoenixAncient ruins in Peru have been hiding a secret that could challenge everyone’s understanding of world history: a hermetically sealed casket, of a design far more advanced than the Incas were capable of building, is found. Inside is a perfectlly intact, but inert, man, bearing a medallion with an inscription mentioning the Egyptian god Osiris. Though this seems to be just a well-preserved corpse, the man returns to life and escapes the facility where his body is being studied. He hitches a ride with a photographer named Noelle, asking her to take him to the sea or he will die. Once there, he seems to be revitalized, as much by exposure to the sun as proximity to the ocean. The doctor who oversaw his unearthing, Ward Frazier, finds the man – who identifies himself as Bennu of the Golden Light – and discovers that he may be an alien in a human guise, the last remnant of an otherworldly civilization trying to pass its secrets on to Earth so its people can avoid the same self-destructive fate. Bennu is searching for a fellow traveler, who he believes has also come to Earth, but first he will have to survive the paranoia of 20th century Earth.

The Phoenixwritten by Anthony Lawrence & Nancy Lawrence
directed by Douglas Hickox
music by Arthur B. Rubinstein

Cast: Judson Scott (Bennu), Shelley Smith (Noelle Marshall), E.G. Marshall (Dr. Ward Frazier), Fernando Allende (Diego DeVarga), Daryl Anderson (Dr. Clifford Davis), Carmen Argenziano (Kingston), Patricia Conklin (Nurse), Angus Duncan (Surgeon), Terry Jastrow (Hood), Stanley Kamel (Murray), Richard Lynch (Justin Preminger), Jimmy Mair (Tim), James Malinda (Croupier), Paul Marin (Anesthesiologist), Hersha Parady (Lynn), Wayne Storm (Patrolman), Lyman Ward (Howard), Brett Williams (Technician)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Nightmare Man

Part One

The Nightmare ManA quiet village on a Scottish island becomes the site of a disturbingly savage murder. A young woman’s remains – what’s left of them – are found near a golf course. Inspector Inskip, heading up the investigation, is alarmed to find that the wounds are not the work of any kind of bladed weapon: the woman was simply torn from limb to limb and left there. The man who found her, dentist Michael Gaffikin, is deeply disturbed when his expertise is called upon in the post-mortem to test a theory that the victim’s wounds were caused by teeth.

written by Robert Holmes
based on the novel “Child Of Vodyanoi” by David Wiltshire
directed by Douglas Camfield
music by Robert Stewart

The Nightmare ManCast: James Warwick (Michael Gaffikin), Celia Imrie (Fiona Patterson), Maurice Roeves (Inspector Inskip), Tom Watson (Dr. Goudry), Jonathan Newth (Colonel Howard), James Cosmo (Sergeant Carch), Fraser Wilson (PC Malcolmson), Tony Sibbald (Symonds), Elaine Wells (Mrs. MacKay)

Notes: Future Doctor Who director Graeme Harper (The Caves Of Androzani, Revelation Of The Daleks, Rise Of The Cybermen, Time Crash) was one of two production managers on this serial; he later cast Maurice Roeves in a hard-hitting major guest role in Caves Of Androzani. Harper and director Douglas Camfield had worked together numerous times since the 1960s.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
National Public Radio Radio & Audio Dramas Star Wars

The Han Solo Solution

Star WarsLuke and Ben sell Luke’s landspeeder to pay for their passage to Alderaan, while Han and Chewbacca prepare the Millennium Falcon for liftoff. Han’s urgency is now doubled after doing away with Greedo, he’ll be a higher profile target for Jabba the Hutt’s thugs, and Han is most worried about an expert bounty hunter named Heater. Just as Luke, Ben and the droids arrive for liftoff, Imperial troops raid the Falcon’s docking bay and open fire. Han and his passengers blast into space, narrowly evading Imperial Star Destroyers and slipping into hyperspace.

Order this CDwritten by Brian Daley
based on the screenplay Star Wars by George Lucas
directed by John Madden
music by John Williams

See the first episode for cast information.

Categories
Nightmare Man

Part Two

The Nightmare ManAs Michael Gaffikin’s help with the post-mortem reveals a pattern of teeth that are only partly human, other strange happenings take place on the island. A farmer reports that one of his sheep has been “torn apart,” while a Geiger counter at a Coast Guard building goes off momentarily. A member of the Coast Guard visiting the island has gone out of radio contact as well, prompting Inskip to conduct a search. But before Inskip and his entourage find the mutilated body of the missing Coast Guard man, they find some sort of vehicle washed ashore, unlike anything he’s seen before.

written by Robert Holmes
based on the novel “Child Of Vodyanoi” by David Wiltshire
directed by Douglas Camfield
music by Robert Stewart

The Nightmare ManCast: James Warwick (Michael Gaffikin), Maurice Roeves (Inspector Inskip), Celia Imrie (Fiona Patterson), Tom Watson (Dr. Goudry), Jonathan Newth (Colonel Howard), James Cosmo (Sergeant Carch), Fraser Wilson (PC Malcolmson), Jon Croft (McGrath), Ronald Forfar (Campbell), Jeffrey Stewart (Drummond), Elaine Wells (Mrs. MacKay)

LogBook entry by Earl Green