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Farscape Season 1

Nerve

FarscapeCrichton is surprised to learn that Aeryn has not fully recovered from her injuries at the hands of the Peacekeeper commandos. While the muscle damage has healed, her paraphoral nerve, which helps to eliminate toxins from her system, has been irreparably damaged. Without a graft from a compatible donor, she will soon die. Crichton decides to try to pose as a Peacekeeper one more time, and find a donor at the Gammak base. With help from Chiana and his old friend Gilina, he manages to get a synthetic graft. But just as he’s ready to make his departure, the base’s deformed commander Scorpius realizes his energy signature is distinctly not Sebacean. As he’s captured, Crichton manages to smuggle the graft to Chiana, who gets it back to Moya and Aeryn. Scorpius places Crichton in the Aurora Chair, a device that allows Scorpius to bypass a verbal interrogation and access the subject’s memories directly. Searching for Crichton’s true mission aboard the base, Scorpius learns of Moya and its escape from Crais, but encounters a neural block when he tries to access Crichton’s encounter with the wormhole aliens. Pushing past the block, Scorpius – and Crichton – learn that the aliens placed the equations for wormhole travel into Crichton’s subconscious, to help guide his research. This is quite a find for Scorpius, whose own research seeks to unleash wormholes’ potential as weapons. To help convince Crichton to give up what he knows, Scorpius summons Crais, but Crichton won’t budge. What Scorpius doesn’t realize is that it’s not wormhole information Crichton is trying to hide – it’s Gilina, who’s still hiding in the base as Scorpius places Crichton in the Aurora Chair for one more go-round . . .

Order the DVDswritten by Richard Manning
directed by Rowan Woods
music by Subvision

Guest Cast: Gigi Edgley (Chiana), Lani John Tupu (Captain Bialar Crais), Alyssa-Jane Cook (Gilina), Kent McCord (Jack Crichton), Wayne Pygram (Scorpius), Paul Goddard (Stark), Imogen Annesley (Niem), Stephen Leeder (Commander Javio), Anthony Kierann (Lt. Heskon), Christian Bischoff (Bixx), Pete Walters (Crais’ Guard)

Notes: Gilina encountered Crichton and Aeryn aboard the Zelbinion in PK Tech Girl. Crichton’s encounter with the wormhole aliens occurred in A Human Reaction. Paul Goddard makes his first appearance as Stark in this episode; he would later join the cast as a regular crew member. This episode was considered the first of two parts, with a “To Be Continued” slug at the end, although unlike future multi-part stories, the title does not reflect this.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Season 5 Xena: Warrior Princess

Seeds Of Faith

Xena: Warrior PrincessAres appears after a brawl in a tavern and tells Xena that some of the people involved are part of a movement that has been inciting people to disobey the gods. Xena realizes that he’s afraid that the prophecy about the twilight of the gods may be comiing true. He says he’s just being thorough.

Xena and Gabrielle accompany the members the movement to protect them, and learn that they are followers of Eli’s teachings. They meet up with their friend in another village where he’s encouraging people to destroy their weapons, saying the only weapon they need against the gods is love. But Xena is concerned about what Ares may be up to…and her fears are confirmed when she finds some of his warriors preparing to attack the village.

Order the DVDswritten by George Strayton and Tom O’Neill
directed by Garth Maxwell
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Hudson Leick (Callisto), Kevin Smith (Ares), Timothy Omundson (Eli), Ann Baxter (Disciple), Tim Beveridge (Villager #2), James Gaylyn (Petracles), Albert Heimuli (Head Soldier), Peter Rowley (Milos), Greg Ward (Villager #3)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

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Season 06 Star Trek Voyager

Fair Haven

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate not given: Having met only limited interest with such holoprograms as Chez Sandrine’s and The Adventures of Captain Proton, Tom creates a holographic replica of Fair Haven, Ireland. The uncomplicated – at least by 24th century standards – and pastoral setting meets with the crew’s approval, and Captain Janeway finds herself fascinated by barkeep Michael Sullivan. When she discovers that Sullivan isn’t as educated or outspoken as she would like, the captain simply changes his parameters (and deletes the character of his wife as well). After falling in love with Sullivan, Janeway is overcome with remorse and withdraws from the holodeck altogether. The rest of the crew is then left to deal with a man – albeit a holographic one – with a broken heart.

Order the DVDswritten by Robin Burger
directed by Allan Kroeker
music by David Bell

Guest Cast: Finton McKeown (Michael Sullivan), Richard Riehle (Saemus), Jan Claire (Frannie), Henriette Ivanans (Maggie), Duffie McIntire (Grace), Majel Barrett (Computer voice)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Farscape Season 1

Hidden Memory

FarscapeA barely-recovered Aeryn insists on leading a mission to rescue Crichton, while Moya’s labor shuts down all her propulsion systems. At the Gammak base, Crichton gradually befriends his cellmate Stark, while Gilina patches into the intercom long enough to tell Crichton that the next time Scorpius puts him in the chair, he should recall their kiss aboard the Zelbinion. Crichton is a bit confused by this, as that’s exactly the memory he’s been trying to hide, but Gilina insists that she trust him. When Crichton recalls the kiss, he triggers a flood of false memories that Gilina programmed into the chair – “memories” that implicate Crais in a conspiracy to use wormhole technology against the Peacekeepers. When Crais denies this, Scorpius orders him into the chair to prove his innocence. With help from Aeryn and company, Stark, Crichton and Gilina make their break. As they try to escape, Chiana and Rygel must try to survive the birth of Moya’s child – a Leviathan/Peacekeeper hybrid complete with weaponry that blocks the offspring’s exit from the birth canal. But the baby wants out, and if he has to fire on his mother to do it, so be it.

Order the DVDswritten by Justin Monjo
directed by Ian Watson
music by Subvision

Guest Cast: Gigi Edgley (Chiana), Lani John Tupu (Captain Bialar Crais), Alyssa-Jane Cook (Gilina), Wayne Pygram (Scorpius), Paul Goddard (Stark), Imogen Annesley (Niem), Anthony Kierann (Lt. Heskon), Pete Walters (Crais’ Guard), Nicole Roma (Blonde Technician)

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Cleopatra 2525 Season 1

Quest For Firepower

Cleopatra 2525Centuries before 2525 A.D., humanity was driven into vast networks of underground tunnels and chambers by flying mechanical aliens known as Bailies. Freedom fighters try to restore human control of Earth, but find themselves up against agents of the Bailies even underground. Hel and Sarge manage to reach the surface, a rarity for their generation of humans, only to find themselves in a firefight with a Bailey almost immediately. A third freedom fighter reveals himself to be a “traitor bot” – a mechanical assassin created by the Baileys to infiltrate and eliminate resistance cells. He injures Sarge, but fails to capture either Sarge or Hel.

Hel takes Sarge to an underground “body bank”, where they will have to barter for a new kidney to replace Sarge’s injured kidney. The shady characters operating the body bank have plenty of replacement organs to choose from, harvested from recently-recovered humans cryogenically frozen in the early 21st century, though they’re keeping one particularly attractive female intact for their own lascivious purposes. This woman awakens during Sarge’s operation and, having no knowledge of when or where she is, tries to escape, but when the traitor bot tracks Sarge down, all three women flee together. Sarge and Hel discover, much to their chagrin, that their new friend Cleopatra was what was known in the 21st century as an “exotic dancer”, and has no fighting experience whatsoever. But is there something she can contribute to the fight to save humanity?

teleplay by R.J. Stewart
story by Rob Tapert & R.J. Stewart
directed by Greg Yaitanes
music by Joseph Lo Duca

Cleopatra 2525Cast: Gina Torres (Hel), Victoria Pratt (Sarge), Jennifer Sky (Cleopatra), Patrick Kake (Mauser), David Press (Horst), Mark Williams (Cat Man), Elizabeth Hawthorne (Voice)

Notes: Airing as a CGI-heavy, half-hour action series in its first season, Cleopatra 2525 was hastily conceived as one of two shows to fill in the slot formerly occupied in the Universal Action Pack syndication package by Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, a show which had come to an abrupt end with the defection of its star, Kevin Sorbo, to Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda. (It shared Hercules’ former one-hour Cleopatra 2525time slot with the Bruce Campbell series Jack Of All Trades, which also clocked in at half an hour) All three of Cleopatra 2525’s leads had previously played roles on Hercules and Xena. American-born actress Jennifer Sky played Amarice in several Xena episodes, and would go on to make appearances in Charmed, CSI: Miami, and Fastlane. Canadian actress Victoria Pratt appeared as Cyane in the Xena two-parter Adventures In The Sin Trade, and immediately after Cleopatra 2525 moved on to the syndicated series Mutant X as one of its regulars; she has since appeared in Day Break, NCIS, and Cleopatra 2525Heartland. Gina Torres appeared as Nebula in several episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and after this series went on to the recurring role of Jasmine in the Buffy spinoff Angel, before taking the role of Zoe Washburne in Joss Whedon’s Firefly. She has since appeared in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, 24, Alias, Standoff, Hannibal, and Suits, and has voiced characters in Justice League, Transformers Prime, and, most recently, Star Wars Rebels.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 5 Xena: Warrior Princess

Lyre, Lyre, Hearts On Fire

Xena: Warrior PrincessDraco and his men find one of Terpiscore’s golden lyres in the desert, but Amazons appear and claim that it belongs to them. As they are about to start fighting, Xena, Gabrielle and Joxer arrive. Xena takes the lyre and tells them that their dispute will be settled in a battle of the bands.

Order the DVDswritten by Adam Armus & Nora Kay Foster
directed by Mark Beesley
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Darien Takle (Cyrene), Ted Raimi (Joxer/Jace), Jay La’Gaia (Draco), Gillian Illiana Waters (Amoria), Susan Calloway and Susan Wood (Gabrielle vocals), Tony Bishop (Alabardus), Paul Norell (Falafel), Grant Bridger (Farmer Paxon), Jim Ngaata (Maximinimus), Christine Bartlett (Townsperson #2), Jeremy Birchall (double for Joxer/Jace), Stephen Butterworth (Small Guy), Geoff Dolan (Henchman #1), Latham Gaines (Rich Guy), Bruce Hopkins (Barkeep), Olaf John (Leader), Geoff Knight (Big Man), Ciaran Pennington (Young Man), Guy Ryan (Sex Symbol Guy), Clint Sharplin (Townsperson #1)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

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Season 06 Star Trek Voyager

Blink of an Eye

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate not given: Voyager enters orbit around a greyish-blue oblate spheroid of a planet. This world’s rotation is so accelerated that years pass on the surface in mere minutes of Voyager’s time. The unusual gravitational properties of the planet trap Voyager in orbit, where it is spotted by the planet’s population over hundreds of generations. Before the crew’s eyes, civilizations rise and fall, technology advances from the bronze age to the space age, and the evolving society turns from curiosity about the vessel “permanently” fixed in their sky to hostility toward it. And at the exponential rate at which the planet’s technology is emerging, its inhabitants will soon have plenty of spaceworthy firepower to enforce that hatred.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Joe Menosky
story by Michael Taylor
directed by Gabrielle Beaumont
music by Paul Baillargeon

Guest Cast: Daniel Dae Kim (Pilot), Obi Ndefo (Protector), Daniel Zacapa (Astronomer), Olaf Pooley (Cleric), Jon Cellini (Technician), Kat Sawyer-Young (Astronaut), Melik Malkasian (Shaman), Walter H. McCready (Tribal Alien), Scarlett Pomers (Naomi Wildman)

Notes: This episode of Voyager is peppered with veterans of other SF franchises. Olaf Pooley guest starred as the mad Professor Stahlman in the 1970 Doctor Who Inferno seven-parter. Daniel Dae Kim shot this episode fresh from his brief stint as First Officer Matheson on the ill-fated Babylon 5 spinoff, Crusade, but a few years before his rise to mainstream fame as a member of the ensemble cast of Lost. Obi Ndefo had a small guest role in the fourth season opener of Deep Space Nine.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 03 SG-1 Stargate

Pretense

Stargate SG-1The Tollan make an appearance, overpowering the SGC’s defenses and stepping right through the closed Iris, informing General Hammond that SG-1’s presence has been requested by someone who is on trial in a Tollan Triad. When O’Neill and the others arrive on Tollana, they discover that the defendant is Skaara – and so is the plantiff. Both Skaara and his Goa’uld symbiont have argued for control over Skaara’s body, and the Triad is to determine which of them will keep control. To O’Neill’s dismay, the counsel for the symbiont is a Goa’uld System Lord, and his minions who have accompanied him to Tollana have their own orders – to prepare to deliver the Tollan to their own judgement day.

Order the DVDswritten by Katharyn Powers
directed by David Warry-Smith
music by Joel Goldsmith & Richard Band

Guest Cast: Alexis Cruz (Skara), Frida Betrani (Lya),
Marie Stillin (High Chancellor Travell), Garwin Sanford (Narim), Kevin Durand (Zipacna), Bill Nikolai (Technician)

Notes: Lya’s first appearance was in The Nox, while Narim and Tollan first appeared in Enigma, both in the first season.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Farscape Season 1

Bone to Be Wild

FarscapeScorpius accompanies Crais back to his Command Carrier to continue the hunt for Crichton, who along with the rest of Moya’s crew is hiding in an asteroid field. With their power shut down to escape detection, the crew faces two problems: they can’t navigate the asteroid field, and they have no idea if Moya’s offspring will ally with them or with the Peacekeepers. Aeryn boards the new ship to help Moya bond with her child, while Crichton, D’Argo and Zhaan follow a distress signal to one of the asteroids, hoping they can find someone with a map. They find M’Lee, the sender of the distress call, apparently on the run from a creature that she claims massacred the rest of her family. Crichton soon discovers that M’Lee is the actual predator, and the creature is in reality a botanist named Br’Nee. That does not necessarily mean that he’s the most trustworthy resident of the asteroid, however, as the botanist has an agenda of his own – one that centers on Zhaan, who, like all Delvians, is a sentient plant. The three quickly find themselves trapped between M’Lee’s hunger and Br’Nee’s curiosity…and all the while, Crais and Scorpius are closing in.

Order the DVDswritten by David Kemper and Rockne S. O’Bannon
directed by Andrew Prowse
music by Subvision

Guest Cast: Lani John Tupu (Captain Bialar Crais), Wayne Pygram (Scorpius), Francesca Buller (M’Lee), Marton Csokas (Br’Nee), David Franklin (Lt. Braca)

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Season 5 Xena: Warrior Princess

Punch Lines

Xena: Warrior PrincessXena and Gabrielle are spending the night in one of Aphrodite’s temples. While the warrior is sleeping soundly, Gabrielle is trying to write a story about their latest adventure when Aphrodite appears. The goddess of love offers to help the bard get past her writer’s block by having Gabrielle talk about what happened earlier in the day, when the god of despair, Lachrymose, shrank Argo and how she had to try find away to restore the horse to her normal size before Xena found out.

Order the DVDswritten by George Strayton & Tom O’Neill
directed by Garth Maxwell
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Alexandra Tydings (Aphrodite), Ted Raimi (Joxer), Jon Gadsby (Lachrymose), Chris Ryan (Blutos), Tony Forster (Solemus), Bernard Moody (Drunk)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

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Season 06 Star Trek Voyager

Virtuoso

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate 54556.4: Voyager plays host to a handful of advanced aliens whose ship is incapacitated. The visitors infuriate Janeway and her crew with their arrogance at the “primitive” nature of Voyager’s culture – until the Doctor, with whom the aliens are also less than pleased, begins to sing. Never having heard music before, the Komari suddenly become rapt fans of the Doctor, and quickly extend an invitation to Voyager to visit their homeworld. After giving a gala performance to the population of an entire world, the Doctor is tempted by their offer to leave Voyager permanently and become a full-time musical ambassador to their world. But while the Doctor makes hasty goodbyes to his crewmates, he underestimates the fickle nature of fame.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Raf Green and Kenneth Biller
story by Raf Green
directed by Les Landau
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Kamala Lopez-Dawson (Tincoo), Ray Xifo (Abarca), Paul Williams (Koru), Marie Caldare (Azen), Nina Magnesson (Vinka)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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5th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Land Of The Dead

Doctor Who: The Land Of The DeadThe TARDIS materializes in mid-air over Alaska, 1964, and then vanishes again when a small airplane nearly collides with it. The TARDIS takes the Doctor and Nyssa to the same location in 1994, where British millionaire Shaun Brett oversees the construction of an enormous house. Brett’s employees include the half-Inuit, half-American Tulung, who acts as a mediator between Brett and the local Inuits who have labored on the huge project, and Monica Lewis, an interior designer who hopes that this house’s unique and sometimes macabre designs will enhance her resume. The Doctor and Nyssa encounter savage creatures roaming the frozen wasteland outside the isolated house, and it soon becomes evident that the same beings are in the house as well. Tulung and the elderly Gaborik believe that the creatures are manifestations of angry spirits of the land, which has been defiled to create Brett’s house. The Doctor quickly discovers that the creatures have properties unlike any other creature on Earth, and yet they are native to the planet. It’s only a matter of time before something kills everyone at the house – the only question is whether it will be the increasing hoarde of ancient monsters, or the mad blood feud for vengeance that has tied Brett and Tulung together since childhood.

Order this CDwritten by Stephen Cole
directed by Gary Russell
music by Nicholas Briggs

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Lucy Campbell (Monica Lewis), Neil Roberts (Tulung), Christopher Scott (Brett), Andrew Fettes (Gaborik), Alistair Lock (Supplier)

Timeline: after Time-Flight and before Arc Of Infinity

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

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Season 03 SG-1 Stargate

Urgo

Stargate SG-1SG-1 steps through the gate, believing they’re about to visit a planet with a tropical paradise that they’ve just seen transmitted back via MALP, only to return through the gate instantaneously. But General Hammond tells them they’ve been gone, with no contact, for 15 hours, and has them report to the infirmary. Everything checks out normal at first, but they begin to notice that their senses are heightened – even to the point that the base’s standard-issue cafeteria food actually tastes good. A closer examination reveals that each member of SG-1 has received a kind of brain implant, and this device’s purpose becomes clear when they begin to collectively hallucinate a man named Urgo – who no one else can see. Urgo can’t control their actions, but he can make fairly powerful suggestions…and it appears that he can’t be removed. When SG-1 begins trying to figure out who created Urgo, though, he frantically warns them that his creator could be more of a threat to their lives than he is.

Order the DVDswritten by Tor Alexander Valenza
directed by Peter DeLuise
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Dom DeLuise (Urgo), Teryl Rothery (Dr. Fraiser), Nickolas Baric (SF Guard), Bill Nikolai (Technician)

Notes: Guest star Dom DeLuise is the father of frequent-flyer Stargate director Pete DeLuise; the younger DeLuise is also an actor who has appeared with his father and brothers in such shows as seaQuest DSV and 3rd Rock From The Sun.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Farscape Season 1

Family Ties

FarscapeRygel decides that it’s time to save his own skin, and takes a transport pod to Crais’ Command Carrier to trade his life for the rest of Moya’s crew. Rygel quickly realizes he is dealing from a position of weakness – but so is Crais, who soon loses command of his crew to Scorpius. Crais and Rygel escape back to Moya, where Crichton and the others are decidedly less than thrilled to see them. Crichton decides to buy time for Moya to escape by piloting a transport pod full of explosives directly into the Gammak base, knowing that Scorpius won’t kill him before he has the chance to access the wormhole equations in Crichton’s mind. D’Argo chooses to assist Crichton, and while the crew hatches a plan to try and bring everyone back alive, they know it’s a long shot at best. When Crais takes Moya’s offspring – newly christened Talyn by Aeryn, in honor of her father – the odds get even longer.

Order the DVDswritten by Rockne S. O’Bannon and David Kemper
directed by Tony Tilse
music by Subvision

Guest Cast: Lani John Tupu (Captain Bialar Crais), Wayne Pygram (Scorpius), David Franklin (Lt. Braca)

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Season 5 Xena: Warrior Princess

God Fearing Child

Xena: Warrior PrincessZeus pays a visit to the Fates, who confirm his belief that the twilight of the gods is approaching. They tell him that the birth of Xena’s child will be the beginning. Though Hera tries to disuade him, Zeus decides that Xena must die before the baby is born. Hercules catches up with Xena and Gabrielle, bringing a gift for the baby. But as the three friends are talking, Proxitici appear. They fight them off and learn that about Zeus’s plan. While Hercules goes to talk to his father, Xena and Gabrielle head to the underworld to get Hades’ helmet of invisibility.

Order the DVDswritten by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman
story by Chris Manheim
directed by Phil Sgriccia
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Kevin Sorbo (Hercules), Kevin Smith (Ares), Meg Foster (Hera), Charles Keating (Zeus), Nicko Vella (Solan), Stephen Lovatt (Hades), Chloe Jordan (Lachesis), Slade Leef (Xena’s Proxidicae), Samantha Adriaanse (Clotho), Elizabeth Pendergrast (Atropos)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell