Categories
Season 5 Xena: Warrior Princess

Animal Attraction

Xena: Warrior PrincessXena, Gabrielle, Amarice and Joxer are heading to Spamona for a break in the town known for its hot springs. Along the way, they find a horse caught in a trap. Xena realizes that the animal calms down a bit when Gabrielle is close to it, so she has her distract him while she frees its hoof. They take the wounded horse on with them. In Spamona, they learn from the sheriff, Talia, an old friend of Xena’s, that the warlord Darcon plans to attack the village. Xena offers to help but Talia refuses it. Since Xena hasn’t been feeling well lately, Gabrielle tells her to go see a healer. When she does, the man has some startling news…

Order the DVDswritten by Chris Manheim
directed by Rick Jacobson
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Jennifer Sky (Amarice), Ted Raimi (Joxer), Alison Bruce (Talia), David Te Rare (Darcon), Mfundo Morrison (Arman), John Smith (Stablehand), Michael Howell (Deputy), Ric Chan (Healer), Norman Potts (Gang member), John Lawler (Barkeep)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

Categories
Season 06 Star Trek Voyager

Alice

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate not given: Voyager happens upon a scrapyard in space operated by a gangly and gregarious alien called Abbadon. A trade agreement is quickly reached for several small items and technologies, until Tom Paris sets his eyes on a sleek (but very derelict) shuttle-sized vessel. Tom persuades Chakotay to offer Abbadon a few extra items in exchange for the ship – and the alien asks for suspiciously little in trade. Tom begins spending all of his off-duty time – and most of Harry’s, too – restoring the mysterious ship to full working order, dubbing it “Alice” in honor of a cadet he lusted after in Starfleet Academy. Slowly, thanks to the little craft’s direct neural interface with its pilot, Tom becomes more and more fixated on “Alice”…but what he does not realize until it far too late is that the ship is equally fixated on him.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Bryan Fuller & Michael Taylor
story by Juliann deLayne
directed by David Livingston
music by David Bell

Guest Cast: Claire Rankin (Alice), John Fleck (Abbadon)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 03 SG-1 Stargate

Jolinar’s Memories

Stargate SG-1A Tok’ra delegation led by Martouf comes through the gate with word that Carter’s father has been capture by Sokar and sent “to hell” – a prison of Sokar’s own design from which only one has escaped: Jolinar, the Tok’ra who briefly inhabited Carter’s body. Martouf places a high priority on recovering Selmak, Jacob’s Tok’ra symbiote, so the Tok’ra can learn about Sokar’s plans to openly attack the other System Lords. But while reaching Sokar’s hellish prison is one thing, getting out of it alive with Jacob in tow is quite another, and Martouf tries to probe Carter for Jolinar’s memories of her escape. Unfortunately, he doesn’t find the information needed to plan an escape until he and SG-1 are already there. Teal’c remains on Martouf’s ship to pick up the team, but Sokar’s ships find and engage him. Trapped on the surface, SG-1, Martouf and Jacob try to take advantage of the chaos caused by an insurrection among the Goa’uld guarding the base. When they wonder why such a bold betrayal is happening before their eyes, everything becomes much clearer when one of the Goa’uld removes his mask, revealing the battle-scarred face of Apophis.

Order the DVDswritten by Sonny Wareham and Daniel Stashower
directed by Peter DeLuise
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Carmen Argenziano (Jacob Carter / Selmak), J.R. Bourne (Martouf), William deVry (Aldwin), Bob Dawson (Bynarr), Dion Johnstone (Na’onak), Peter Williams (Apophis), Peter H. Kent (Kintac), David Palffy (Sokar), Daniel Bacon (Technician), Eli Gabay (Jumar), Tanya Reid (Jolinar), Christine Kennedy (young Carter), Dillon Moen (Charlie)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 03 SG-1 Stargate

The Devil You Know

Stargate SG-1Apophis makes his ambitions known – he intends to overthrow Sokar and resume his place among the System Lords. Apophis begins brutal interrogations of SG-1 to find information, including the current location of the Tok’ra resistance base, that he can trade to lure Sokar to his prison. Teal’c, in the meantime, has retreated to safety, consulting with the other Tok’ra on a new course of action now that the entire team must be rescued. But the Tok’ra only see an opportunity to rid themselves of both Apophis and Sokar in one shot, and Teal’c discovers that his allies are more than willing to sacrifice the lives of everyone in SG-1 to do it.

Order the DVDswritten by Robert C. Cooper
directed by Peter DeLuise
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Carmen Argenziano (Jacob Carter / Selmak), J.R. Bourne (Martouf), William deVry (Aldwin), Bob Dawson (Bynarr), Peter Williams (Apophis), Dion Johnstone (Na’onak), Peter H. Kent (Kintac), David Palffy (Sokar), Daniel Bacon (Technician), Eli Gabay (Jumar), Tanya Reid (Jolinar), Christine Kennedy (young Carter), Dillon Moen (Charlie)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
5th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Phantasmagoria

Doctor Who: PhantasmagoriaThe Doctor and Turlough arrive in London, 1702, amidst a rash of disappearances, murders, and robberies. Well-to-do men have been vanishing without a trace, and the only connection anyone can draw between the victims is that they were last seen playing cards with the sinister and enigmatic Sir Nicholas Valentine at the Diabola Club. Turlough himself witnesses one of the horrifying disappearances and finds himself separated from the Doctor, and joins the intrepid Jasper Jeake as he tries to uncover the whereabouts of his friends. The Doctor befriends self-proclaimed occultist Dr. Samuel Holywell, who claims to have made contact with the dead – but the Doctor believes the explanation is simultaneously simpler and more complex than that. And largely unnoticed by the time travelers is the sudden transformation of a well-known robber into a murderer. At least two of these players are not from Earth – and even if the Doctor can discover who they are, the game is almost up.

Order this CDwritten by Mark Gatiss
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Alistair Lock

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Mark Strickson (Turlough), David Walliams (Quincy Flowers), Jonathan Rigby (Edmund Carteret), Mark Gatiss (Jasper Jeake), Jez Fielder (Poltrot/Major Billy Lovemore), David Ryall (Sir Nicholas Valentine), Steven Wickham (Dr. Samuel Holywell), Julia Dalkin (Hannah Fry)

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
Season 5 Xena: Warrior Princess

Them Bones, Them Bones

Xena: Warrior PrincessXena and Gabrielle’s peaceful morning is ended when the warrior begins having sharp pains in her abdomen. They rush to a village healer. At the healer’s, Xena awakens from a horrible vision and tells Gabrielle and Amarice, who has joined them, that she must go see Yakut. The trio sets off for the northern Amazon village.

Yakut greets them. She has also seen the vision. The young shamaness has another vision and says that there’s a woman in it bearing the mark of the shamaness. Xena realizes that it is Alti. The warrior makes the decision to enter Alti’s realm to stop her from attacking her baby, but Gabrielle insists on taking her place for the baby’s and Xena’s sake. In the vision quest, Alti tells Gabrielle that she doesn’t want to harm the baby, but wants to return to the physical plane and that Xena should find a way to make this happen.

Order the DVDswritten by Steven L. Sears & R.J. Stewart
directed by John Fawcett
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Claire Stansfield (Alti), Jennifer Sky (Amarice), Kate Elliot (Yakut), Donogh Rees (Chi’Ah), Beryl Te Wiata (Midwife), Rachel Hayward (Amazon), and Argo

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

Categories
Spock vs. Q Star Trek

Spock Vs. Q

Spock Vs. QUsing the Guardian of Forever, Spock travels back to the twilight of the 20th century to warn humanity of an impending asteroid collision – one which history doesn’t record. The unflappable Vulcan is annoyed when an omnipotent being named Q appears, frustrating Spock’s efforts to save Earth from disaster. Spock quickly learns, however, that he can manipulate Q almost as well as Q can manipulate time, space and matter, and sets about engaging Q in a battle of wits that, if Spock wins, will mean that Q must put his powers to use to set history right.

Order this CDwritten by Cecelia Fannon

Cast: Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), John de Lancie (Q)

Notes: Recorded before a live audience as part of Nimoy and de Lancie’s Alien Voices live radio project, Spock Vs. Q was a pet project for both actors; there are no other cast members at all. The dialogue is clearly rooted in the late 90s, with references to infomercials, Seinfeld, and “yadda, yadda, yadda” thrown into the mix. If one is going to actually try to fit this into the Star Trek timeline, it is hinted that Spock is already in his post-Starfleet, Next Generation-era diplomatic career, though if one is going to try to slot this into continuity somewhere, one might as well blame the mystery asteroid threat on the temporal cold war.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Tagged
Categories
Season 06 Star Trek Voyager

Riddles

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate 53263.2: Tuvok is critically injured as he and Neelix return to Voyager from a routine diplomatic mission. As Tuvok lies comatose in sick bay, Deputy Investigator Nerok of the K’sath arrives to look into the incident. Nerok blames Tuvok’s attack on the B’neth, legendary creatures whose existence is officially denied by the K’sath government. Nerok is eager to use this opportunity to prove the B’neth do exist, but the star witness, though recovering, is having to start over again mentally. Despite his frequent annoyance with the Talaxian in the past, Tuvok now turns to Neelix for support and guidance.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Robert Doherty
story by Andrè Bormanis
directed by Roxann Dawson
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: Mark Moses (Nerok)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 03 SG-1 Stargate

Foothold

Stargate SG-1After SG-1 receives a rather cool reception from General Hammond upon returning to the SGC from their latest mission, they’re sent into quarantine and hear about a chemical spill affecting the entire Cheyenne Mountain complex. In the infirmary, all four are drugged, though it wears off early for Teal’c because of his Goa’uld symbiont. Teal’c discovers that an alien species has taken over the SGC, and quickly escapes from his guards, also rescuing Carter. Teal’c stays behind to fight and rescue Daniel and O’Neill while Carter escapes, but he is soon overcome. Once outside, Carter contacts Maybourne, one of the SGC’s most hated enemies, to inform him of a foothold situation and requests a meeting in a public place – but at that meeting, Maybourne hands her over to O’Neill and Daniel to be taken back to the SGC. Maybourne promises to accompany her as well. But it’s only on the return flight to the SGC that either Carter or Maybourne realizes that the alien incursion may have already spread as far as the Pentagon.

Order the DVDswritten by Heather E. Ash
directed by Andy Mikita
music by Joel Goldsmith & Kevin Kiner

Guest Cast: Tom McBeath (Colonel Harry Maybourne), Colin Cunningham (Major Davis), Teryl Rothery (Dr. Fraiser), Richard Leacock (Colonel Brogan), Colin Lawrence (Sergeant Warren), Dan Shea (Sergeant Siler), Alex Zahara (Alien Leader / Alien #1), Dion Johnstone (Alien #2), Tracy Westerholm (Surveillance SF), Biski Gugushe (SF Guard)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 5 Xena: Warrior Princess

Purity

Xena: Warrior PrincessXena and Gabrielle find a monk from the temple where Xena had left Lao Ma’s book. He delivers a message that the warrior realizes is from her late mentor. The two women, along with Joxer, head for Chin. Once there, they find a devastated village. As they are investigating the damage, missiles begin exploding throughout the ruins around them, and soldiers attack them. During the fighting, a woman joins their defense and soon the army retreats. The woman then identifies herself as Pao Ssu, daughter of Lao Ma. She explains to them that the army that was attacking has discovered the secret of black powder, which had been outlawed in Chin. They head for the temple and discover that Lao Ma’s book has been stolen. As Xena and Pao Ssu search for the thief, Gabrielle and Joxer head to the market to get what they need to make their own black powder.

Order the DVDswritten by Jeff Vlaming
directed by Mark Beesley
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Ted Raimi (Joxer), Marie Matiko (Pao SsU/K’Ao Hsin), Andy Choi (Go Kun), William Kwan (Vendor)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

Categories
Season 06 Star Trek Voyager

Dragon’s Teeth

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate 53167.9: Trying to escape from an apparently hostile race guarding a series of time-saving wormholes, Voyager hides on a planet devastated by nuclear war. Seven locates a cryogenically frozen man and revives him. The survivor insists upon the revival of his fellow war victims, offering their help to Janeway as the guardians of the wormhole close in on Voyager. But all is not as it seems. The revived survivors, almost 900 years ago, were bombed into submission after centuries of using wormholes to attack and conquer other worlds. The freshly thawed-out Vodwar, though they try to conceal the fact at every opportunity, are the only surviving oppressors from that war. Their leader wishes to resume their reign of terror, beginning with a takeover of Voyager.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Michael Taylor, Brannon Braga & Joe Menosky
story by Michael Taylor
directed by Winrich Kolbe
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: Jeff Allin (Gedrin), Robert Knepper (Gaul), Scarlett Pomers (Naomi Wildman), Ron Fassler (Morin), Mimi Craven (Jisa), Bob Stillman (Turei), Majel Barrett (Computer voice)

Original title: 5,000 Years

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Series Specials Doctor Who

The Web of Caves

Doctor WhoThe Doctor faces an enemy with plans for world domination …well…actually he hasn’t quite worked out the plan yet…but when he does…watch out…

Order the DVDwritten by Mark Gatiss & David Walliams
director unknown

Cast: Mark Gatiss (The Doctor), David Walliams (Alien), Paul Putner (Alien), Tom Baker (Announcer)

LogBook entry & review by Philip R. Frey

Categories
Season 5 Xena: Warrior Princess

Back In The Bottle

Xena: Warrior PrincessAs Xena tests to see whether or not she can use Lao Ma’s teachings away from Chin, she has a vision of Gabrielle, Joxer, and an unknown man fighting an army with explosions around them. She decides they must return to Chin to find out what the vision means. In Chin, they encounter K’ao Hsin with hundreds of refugees. K’ao Hsin tells them that the warlord Ghengis Khan is leading an army of Monguls through Chin. Khan is receiving help from the spirit of Ming Tien and his sister, Pao Ssu. Pao Ssu gives Khan the secret to making black powder – and suddenly Xena’s fight to save the refugees is that much more difficult…and deadly.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Steven L. Sears
story by Robert Tapert & Steven L. Sears
directed by Rick Jacobson
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Ted Raimi (Joxer), Marie Matiko (Pao SsU/K’Ao Hsin), George Kee Chung (Genghis Khan), Daniel Sing (Ming Tien), Anthony Wong (Lin Qi), Helen Phung (Tei), Lohsing Cheng (Peasant)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

Categories
Season 06 Star Trek Voyager

One Small Step

Star Trek: VoyagerOctober 19, 2032: Ares IV, the first manned mission to Mars, is going smoothly until an unknown spatial anomaly consumes the orbiter. The mission is lost to a total enigma, all hands are presumed dead, and NASA’s Mars program is almost brought to a halt for good.

Stardate 53292.7: An unknown spatial anomaly nearly consumes Voyager. Seven of Nine recognizes the anomaly thanks to previous encounters with the Borg, but later study of the phenomenon reveals that it is still hauling the wreckage of Ares IV through the Delta Quadrant. Chakotay and Paris quickly devise a plan to retrieve Ares IV, but Seven of Nine insists on warning the crew of the dangers of attempting to explore a gravimetric ellipse. Trying to inspire her, Janeway assigns Seven to join the mission into the ellipse. But once the Delta Flyer is inside, B’elanna discovers that the anomaly is on course for a violent collision with a dark matter asteroid. Janeway orders Chakotay to abandon the salvage operation immediately, but he disobeys, ordering Tom to tow the Ares IV in a tractor beam. This decision slows down the Delta Flyer’s escape enough to trap it inside the ellipse – lost to a total enigma…all hands presumed dead.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Mike Wollaeger & Jessica Scott
and Bryan Fuller & Michael Taylor
story by Mike Wollaeger & Jessica Scott
directed by Robert Picardo
music by Paul Baillargeon

Guest Cast: Phil Morris (Lt. John Kelly), Majel Barrett (Computer voice)

Notes: The Doctor mentions a visit to the planet Arrakis Prime, an in-joke reference to the spice planet in Dune. One of Phil Morris’s first film roles was the ensign who asked Admiral Kirk if the Enterprise crew would return to a hero’s welcome at the beginning of Star Trek III.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 5 Xena: Warrior Princess

Little Problems

Xena: Warrior PrincessAfter Xena and Gabrielle stop some theives from robbing her temple, Aphrodite shows them the hospice she has set up in another part of it. One of the patients is a girl named Daphne, who’s been unconcious since she was brought in. Xena says she’d trade places with the girl if that would get her to wake up, and Aphrodite does just that. But when Daphne wakes up, they discover that she was only half successful – now Xena is sharing the girl’s body. Daphne’s father arrives to take her home, and Xena tells Gabrielle to watch over her body and find a way to restore her. But they have restore her before sundown, or Xena will be sharing Daphne’s body forever.

Order the DVDswritten by Gregg Ostrin
directed by Allison Liddi
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Alexandra Tydings (Aphrodite), Rose McIver (Daphne), Colin Moy (Galantis), Peter Feeney (Tharon), Stephen Finch (Sandor), Wade Taylor (Castor), Scott Taylor (Pollux), Justin Curry (Doorman), Allen O’Halloran (Guard), David Telford (Announcer)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell