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Deep Space Nine Season 03 Star Trek

Defiant

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate 48467.3: DS9’s crew welcomes Commander Riker aboard, stopping off at the station en route to Risa. He gets a tour of the station from Kira, ending up at the Defiant – which he hijacks, with Kira as his prisoner. This “commander” is Thomas Riker, now a member of the Maquis on the run from Starfleet. His target is a secret Cardassian installation which, as Gul Dukat and Sisko find when they go to Cardassia to coordinate the search for the Defiant, is apparently an operation of the Obsidian Order, Cardassia’s widely-feared secret police and intelligence wing. Kira doubts that Riker’s motives are the same as those of the Maquis, but are instead sparked by an obsession to dinstinguish himself in the annals of history from the Enterprise’s first officer. In the meantime, Riker’s discoveries in the secret depths of Cardassian space surprise everyone, including Dukat.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Ronald D. Moore
directed by Cliff Bole
music by Jay Chattaway

Cast: Avery Brooks (Commander Benjamin Sisko), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), Siddig El Fadil (Dr. Julian Bashir), Terry Farrell (Lt. Jadzia Dax), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Nana Visitor (Major Kira Nerys), Jonathan Frakes (Riker), Marc Alaimo (Gul Dukat), Tricia O’Neil (Korinas), Shannon Cochran (Kalita), Robert Kerbeck (Cardassian Soldier), Michael Canavan (Tamal)

Star Trek: Deep Space NineNotes: “Thomas” Riker, a clone of the Enterprise’s Will Riker created in a freak transporter accident, was introduced in Next Generation’s Second Chances episode during the sixth season of that show; Kalita was seen in Next Generation as well, in the penultimate episode Preemptive Strike, in which she was a member of the Maquis cell which Ro Laren joined. Though many ideas were floated for following up on Thomas Riker’s story, including story outlines which explored both his fate and that of Next Generation’s Ensign Sito Jaxa (The First Duty, Lower Decks), the character never appeared again.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Babylon 5 / Crusade Season 2

A Distant Star

Babylon 5The explorer ship Cortez puts in at Babylon 5, giving Sheridan the chance to reminisce with old friend Captain Maynard. The Cortez crew, having spent more time in hyperspace than just about anyone else, fields questions from Ivanova and Keffler about rumors that an unknown lifeform has taken up residence in the uninhabitable realm of hyperspace. Maynard and his crew admit to having seen something out there, though they don’t know exactly what. The Cortez departs en route to the rim, but something goes disastrously wrong and the ship loses her lock on the jump point needed to emerge from hyperspace ever again.

Order now!written by D.C. Fontana
directed by Jim Johnston
music by Christopher Franke

Cast: Bruce Boxleitner (Captain John Sheridan), Claudia Christian (Lt. Commander Ivanova), Jerry Doyle (Garibaldi), Mira Furlan (Delenn), Richard Biggs (Dr. Franklin), Andrea Thompson (Talia Winters), Stephen Furst (Vir), Bill Mumy (Lennier), Robert Rusler (Warren Keffer), Mary Kay Adams (Na’Toth), Andreas Katsulas (G’Kar), Peter Jurasik (Londo), Russ Tamblyn (Captain Jack Maynard), Daniel Beer (Patrick), Art Kimbro (Ray Galus), Miguel A. Nunez Jr. (Orwell), Patty Toy (Ogilvie), Joshua Cox (Tech), Kim Delgado (Comm Tech), Sandey Grinn (Teronn)

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Deep Space Nine Season 03 Star Trek

Fascination

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate not given: The annual Bajoran Gratitude Festival brings mixed feelings for all. Jake’s girlfriend has given him up to enroll at a science academy, O’Brien is nervous about Keiko’s first visit to the station in two months, Kira eagerly awaits Bareil’s arrival, and Odo is filled with utter dread when Lwaxana Troi boards the station just to visit him. O’Brien’s situation worsens by the minute when Keiko just wants to rest, and Odo simply can’t escape Lwaxana. And neither can anyone else. Thanks to a slight telepathic ailment being suffered by the Betazoid ambassador, her feelings for Odo are projected onto others, amplifying some subconscious attractions. Jake tries to woo Kira, who is busy wondering why Bareil has apparently left her for Dax, who’s hot on Sisko’s trail…

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonteleplay by Philip Lazebnik
story by Ira Steven Behr & James Crocker
directed by Avery Brooks
music by Dennis McCarthy

Cast: Avery Brooks (Commander Benjamin Sisko), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), Siddig El Fadil (Dr. Julian Bashir), Terry Farrell (Lt. Jadzia Dax), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Nana Visitor (Major Kira Nerys), Majel Barrett (Lwaxana Troi), Philip Anglim (Vedek Bareil), Rosalind Chao (Keiko), Hana Hatae (Molly)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 2

The Long Dark

Babylon 5A sublight spacecraft carrying cryogenically frozen humans is discovered adrift in B5’s vicinity. The ship is secured and one of its occupants is found to have been killed during the vessel’s flight, which began from Earth over a century before. The surviving crew member – and wife of the deceased – has no memory of what happened to her husband. Her arrival coincides with a series of grisly murders and the emergence of a lurker named Amis who warns that there’s another passenger, an unwelcome one, on the sleeper ship.

Order now!Download this episodewritten by Scott Frost
directed by Mario Di Leo
music by
Christopher Franke

Cast: Bruce Boxleitner (Captain John Sheridan), Claudia Christian (Lt. Commander Ivanova), Jerry Doyle (Garibaldi), Mira Furlan (Delenn), Richard Biggs (Dr. Franklin), Andrea Thompson (Talia Winters), Stephen Furst (Vir), Bill Mumy (Lennier), Robert Rusler (Warren Keffer), Mary Kay Adams (Na’Toth), Andreas Katsulas (G’Kar), Peter Jurasik (Londo), Anne Marie Johnson (Mariah Cirrus), Dwight Schultz (Amis), Jennifer Anglin (Alien #1), Babylon 5Neil Bradley (Alien #2), James Kiriyama-Lem (Medlab Tech), Kim Strauss (Markab Ambassador), Warren Tabata (Guard)

Notes: Ivanova checks the flight path of the Copernicus after it was boarded by the alien presence, and at the time it’s intercepted near B5, it seems to be headed for eventual arrival at Z’ha’dum, the planet where G’Kar found the Shadows lurking in Revelations.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Doctor Who Fan Films

Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans

Shakedown: Return Of The Sontarans

This is a fan-made production whose storyline may be invalidated by later official studio productions.

The solar racing yacht Tiger Moth, a sleek (but vulnerable) spacecraft, is readying for its berth in a solar sailing competition. But en route to the starting point, the Tiger Moth is attacked by a Sontaran War Wheel and forced to accept a boarding party. The Tiger Moth’s captain, Lisa Deranne, is already unhappy with the delay, but matters become worse when Sontaran shock troops storm her ship, taking her crew and herself prisoner (except for chief engineer Robar, who is working safely below decks during the attack). The Sontaran commander, Steg, is on a mission to find a Rutan spy who escaped from the Sontarans and stowed away aboard a ship from the space station which was also the Tiger Moth’s last port of call. Steg will stop at nothing to find and destroy the Rutan, whose intelligence could turn the tide in the age-old Rutan-Sontaran war. One by one, beginning with Robar, Lisa Deranne’s crew is killed off, and it becomes evident that the Rutan is indeed aboard the Tiger Moth. But which party would make a more deadly ally – the shapeshifting Rutan, or the merciless Sontarans?

written by Terrance Dicks
directed by Kevin Davies
music by Mark Ayres

Cast: Jan Chappell (Captain Lisa Deranne), Brian Croucher (Kurt), Michael Wisher (Robar), Carole Ann Ford (Zorelle), Sophie Aldred (Mari), Rory O’Donnell (Nikos), Toby Aspin (Commander Steg), Tom Finnis (Lieutenant Vorn), Jonathan Saville (First Sontaran Trooper), Keith Dunne (Sontaran Trooper), Derek Handley (Sontaran Trooper), Julian Jones (Sontaran Trooper), Stephen Mansfield (Sontaran Trooper)

Review: Easily my favorite Doctor Who fan video spinoff ever, Shakedown truly captures the elements that made its inspiration great: the budget doesn’t matter. The actors and the dialogue (from a suspenseful and, quite frankly, very funny Terrance Dicks script) will carry the show. Shakedown demonstrates that atmosphere is not a quantifiable commodity that can only be purchased with a seven-digit budget – atmosphere is instead generated by the story and the performances. That said, the production values aren’t too shabby. Some very nice, Red Dwarf-ish model work shows off the delicate, lovely Tiger Moth, and whoever did the lighting deserves a medal, as it often disguises the telltale modern-day signs of the location (the redressed bowels of an actual ocean-faring ship). And finally, Mark Ayres gives the whole show a tremendous boost with what may be his second-best score to date (next only to The Innocent Sleep).

Categories
Babylon 5 / Crusade Season 2

A Spider In The Web

Babylon 5An old friend of Talia’s, business executive Taro Isogi, arrives to open negotiations with Amanda Carter of the Mars provisional government, who herself is a former member of the radical Free Mars movement. After a successful meeting which seems to point to Isogi’s corporation helping to stabilize the uncertain future of the Mars Colony, Taro and Talia are en route to dinner when a man stops them, electrocutes Taro by hand, says “Free Mars” and flees the scene, leaving Talia alive. Talia briefly senses an image in the murderer’s mind, a first-person memory of being in a spacecraft destroyed by an Earth Alliance heavy cruiser. After an attempt to locate and kill Talia, the killer himself seems to suffer some kind of attack and seeks out Carter’s help. Garibaldi identifies him as Abel Horn – a former Mars rebel who is officially listed as dead. Conspiracy buff Sheridan is the first to realize that Horn is the victim/subject of cybernetic experimentation carried out by a mysterious secret agency on Earth known as Bureau 13.

Order now!Download this episodewritten by Lawrence G. DiTillio
directed by Kevin G. Cremin
music by
Christopher Franke

Cast: Bruce Boxleitner (Captain John Sheridan), Claudia Christian (Lt. Commander Ivanova), Jerry Doyle (Garibaldi), Mira Furlan (Delenn), Richard Biggs (Dr. Franklin), Andrea Thompson (Talia Winters), Stephen Furst (Vir), Bill Mumy (Lennier), Robert Rusler (Warren Keffer), Mary Kay Adams (Na’Toth), Andreas Katsulas (G’Kar), Peter Jurasik (Londo), Michael Beck (Abel Horn), Adrienne Barbeau (Amanda Carter), James Shigeta (Taro Isoga), Jeff Conaway (Zack Allan), Jessica Walter (Senator Elise Voudreau), Annie Grindlay (Thirteen/Psi Cop), Joshua Cox (Tech #1)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
1984-95: Heisei Series Godzilla

Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla

GodzillaOn a remote island in the Pacific, G-Force members Koji Shinjo, Kiyoshi Sato, and Major Akira Yuki discover the baby Godzilla, and strange crystalline shaped formations. Shinjo and Sato are attempting to control the King of the Monsters, while Yuki plans on killing Godzilla. Meanwhile, telepath Miki Saegusa is contacted by Mothra’s familiars, the Cosmos, who tell her a monster has arrived to kill Godzilla, and then conquer the Earth.

A Godzilla-like monster, encrusted with crystals, is heading toward Earth. A giant robot, Mogera, is dispatched to intercept the SpaceGodzilla. Miki has joined the G-Force team on the island and contacts Godzilla after a telepathic amplifier is implanted in his neck.

In the asteroid belt, SpaceGodzilla easily defeats the robot, and Mogera spins out of control. Soon thereafter, it arrives at the same South Pacific island, and is energized by the crystalline structures. It attacks little Godzilla with lightning bolts from its mouth, but now faces Godzilla’s wrath. Godzilla’s fiery breath, though, is deflected by a forcefield. Spacegodzilla takes to the air and encircles the other two monsters, blasting at Godzilla until he falls. The alien beast uses telekenetic powers to send little Godzilla into one of the structures. It flies off, leaving Godzilla to lick his wounds.

A study of cells found near the battle indicate SpaceGodzilla was created by Godzilla cells that managed to get into space, where they grew and mutated.

Yuki heads a team with Shinjo and Sato and fly a repaired Mogera into battle against Spacegodzilla who has arrived in Fukuoka. Mogera attacks the alien beast, with limited effect, ending with the robot crashing to ground. Godzilla arrives and faces off against Spacegodzilla.

The alien beast quickly renders Godzilla unconscious, lifts him in the air, and throws him into a skyscraper. Godzilla picks himself up and approaches the other beast, but Spacegodzilla is floating in the air and attacking again with lighting. Godzilla blasts at the crystalline structures, weakening his opponent. SpaceGodzilla launches the missile shaped crystals at Godzilla, to slow the approaching King of the Monsters. Godzilla’s nuclear fire is glancing off the other’s force field.

The crew of Mogera separate the Star Falcon from the rest of the robot and close in for an attack while Godzilla attempts to destroy the alien’s power source. Mogera burrows underground, as the Falcon flies into battle. Separately they manage to sneak up on SpaceGodzilla and surprise him while his forcefield is down. The Falcon docks with Mogera, and the robot and Godzilla double team against the the space monster. Godzilla and SpaceGodzilla wrestle, with Godzilla thrown off. SpaceGodzilla turns its attentions to Mogera, severely damaging it. Shinjo and Sato abandon the robot, with Yuki staying behind. With SpaceGodzilla distracted, Godzilla gathers himself up and, with renewed strength, slams into the other monster. Yuki struggles to bring the robot back into the fray, but and manages to slam into SpaceGodzilla, causing it to fall. But the robot is spent and crashes into a building.

SpaceGodzilla rises up, and continues the battle. Godzilla is emitting energy, which will cause SpaceGodzilla to explode. Yuki escapes from Mogera moments before SpaceGodzilla explodes in a massive fireball. Little Godzilla is freed from his imprisonment.

Godzilla exits the battlefield, but there are hints that there may be another space monster.

screenplay by Hiroshi Kashiwabra
directed by Kensho Yamashita
music by Takayuki Hattori

Human Cast: Jun Hashizume (Lt. Koji Shinjo), Megumi Odaka (Miki Saegusa), Akira Emoto (Major Akira Yuki) Zenkichi Yoneyama (Lt. Kiyoshi Sato)

Monster Cast: Godzilla, SpaceGodzilla, Mothra, Mogera, Little Godzilla

LogBook entry by Robert Parson

Categories
Babylon 5 / Crusade Season 2

Soul Mates

Babylon 5Londo’s three wives arrive on B5, summoned by their husband for reasons unknown. Mystery also surrounds the arrival of Matthew Stoner, Talia’s ex-husband. Londo has called his wives to the station on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of his ascension so he can choose which of them to remain married to, since his gift from the Emperor is to be granted a painless divorce from two of them. Stoner, on the other hand, wants Talia back, something Garibaldi is wary of on both professional and personal levels, but no one can seem to disagree with Stoner for very long for some reason. At the party, Londo’s wives give him an old Centauri artifact which turns out to be booby-trapped, and Londo lands in medlab facing certain death. In the meantime, nobody is able to find a reason to think twice about Stoner’s actions, even when Talia announces her wish to leave B5 with him.

Order now!Download this episodewritten by Peter David
directed by John C. Flinn III
music by
Christopher Franke

Cast: Bruce Boxleitner (Captain John Sheridan), Claudia Christian (Lt. Commander Ivanova), Jerry Doyle (Garibaldi), Mira Furlan (Delenn), Richard Biggs (Dr. Franklin), Andrea Thompson (Talia Winters), Stephen Furst (Vir), Bill Mumy (Lennier), Robert Rusler (Warren Keffer), Mary Kay Adams (Na’Toth), Andreas Katsulas (G’Kar), Peter Jurasik (Londo), Keith Szarabajka (Matthew Stoner), Lois Nettleton (Daggair), Blair Valk (Mariel), David L. Crowley (Lou Welch), Carel Struycken (Trader), Jane Carr (Timov), Bryan Michael McGuire (Man)

Original title: Pestilence, Famine and Death

LogBook entry by Earl Green