Year: 2001

Categories
Farscape Season 2

Liars, Guns and Money Part 1: A Not-So-Simple Plan

  • By Dave
  • January 5, 2001

FarscapeStark re-corporealizes slightly worse for wear in the sanity department, but being a little unbalanced has helped him hatch a fairly cunning plan – Moya’s crew will rob a Shadow Depository, a vault for illicit wealth, and use the proceeds to purchase a lot of slaves that includes a thousand of Stark’s fellow Baniks – and D’Argo’s son Jothee. D’Argo is, needless to say, enthusiastic about the plan, while the others urge patience while they try to think of a slightly less suicidal option. For D’Argo, however, there is no time like the present, and he takes a Transport Pod to the Despository – where he is quickly captured. Moya follows him, and the crew learn that Stark planned for his capture – it gives him the opportunity to access the Depository’s new codes. Frustrated at their manipulation, the crew goes along with Stark to save D’Argo; Zhaan poses as a criminal and opens an account at the Depository, claiming that D’Argo was sent ahead to test security. Their deposit includes a smuggled Rygel, who arranges for the contents of another vault to be sent to Moya. As Crichton’s luck would have it, that vault belongs to Scorpius, and when he arrives to check in on his holdings, trouble can’t help but ensue.

Order the DVDswritten by Grant McAloon
directed by Rowan Woods
music by Guy Gross

Guest Cast: Paul Goddard (Stark), Wayne Pygram (Scorpius), Claudia Karvan (Natira), Nicholas Hope (Akkor), Matt Newton (Jothee), David Franklin (Lt. Braca), Adrian Brown (Gan), Jennifer Fisher (PK Nurse)

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

Categories
7th Doctor

Last Of The Titans

Last Of The TitansThe seventh Doctor, traveling alone, is looking forward to a holiday on the planet Armelia. The TARDIS doesn’t quite get him there, however, landing instead inside an enormous spacecraft. The Doctor becomes stranded there when, moments after stepping out of the TARDIS, he sees his timeship plummeting into the vessel’s gigantic furnace (thanks to a less-than-fortuitous landing on a deck hatch). In the course of trying to retrieve his only means of escape, the Doctor befriends Vilgreth, an enormous and slightly slow-witted being who claims to originate from – of all places – Devon. Vilgreth mentions that many have come to destroy him, and he’s glad that the Doctor isn’t one of them. Just such a creature arrives, and insists that the Doctor leave, since a bomb has just been planted on Vilgreth’s ship. The Doctor, infuriated, disarms the bomb, but also grows increasingly suspicious of why anyone would try to harm his seemingly innocuous host. The truth soon becomes apparent: Vigreth’s ship is, not unlike its captain, a dangerous relic. The ship’s fuel is entire planets. Its next stop is Armelia.

written by Nicholas Briggs
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Alistair Lock

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Nicholas Briggs (Vilgreth), Alistair Lock (Stelpor), Lennox Greaves (Professor Pat Trethui), Holly King (Mrs. Burden)

Timeline: after The Sirens Of Time and before Doctor Who

Notes: This was a thirty-minute, single-episode story distributed exclusively on a CD included with issue #300 of Doctor Who Magazine, a CD which also included a preview version of episode one of Storm Warning. Last Of The Titans has not been released on CD to date, but was released as a free downloadable podcast in 2011. The script was originally written by Nicholas Briggs for the Audio Visuals amateur audio drama cassettes.

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
Farscape Season 2

Liars, Guns and Money Part 2: With Friends Like These

  • By Dave
  • January 12, 2001

FarscapeWhen Moya arrives at the slave auction, D’Argo discovers to his horror that Scorpius has gotten there first and purchased the slaves – which he is perfectly willing to exchange for Crichton. Crichton’s alternate plan is to use the money which would have purchased Jothee to hire some of the less savory characters they’ve encountered in the Uncharted Territories for a breakout. But when most of the crew heads out on a recruitment drive, Zhaan and Chiana discover that they are victims of a double cross. Natira, head of the Shadow Depository, had replaced the actual ingots with creatures that had begun to eat Moya. Only intense heat – enough to injure Moya – will eliminate the parasites. When the others return to a damaged Moya to discover they no longer have the wealth to finance the operation, Crichton decides it might be time to put himself out of his misery for everyone’s benefit.

Order the DVDswritten by Naren Shankar
directed by Catherine Millar
music by Guy Gross

Guest Cast: Paul Goddard (Stark), Wayne Pygram (Scorpius), Claudia Karvan (Natira), Nicholas Hope (Akkor), Matt Newton (Jothee), David Franklin (Lt. Braca), John Adam (Bekhesh), Jeremy Sims (Rorf), Jo Kerrigan (Rorg), David Wheeler (Durka), Lionel Haft (Zelkin), David Bowers (Kurz), Thomas Holesgrove (Teurac)

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

Categories
Season 6 Xena: Warrior Princess

Old Ares Had A Farm

Xena: Warrior PrincessXena and Gabrielle have stopped in a tavern to eat, when the warrior notices some men seated at a nearby table that seem familiar. She goes to question one of them, but he doesn’t want to tell her anything until she puts her pinch on him. He tells Xena that they’ve united under the warlord Gasgar to go after Ares now that he’s mortal. They want revenge on the former god of war for double crossing them.

Away from the village, Ares is walking alone when a man appears and says he’s there to collect the bounty. But before he can do anything, Xena and Gabrielle appear and the man retreats. Ares tells them that he’s been having people want to fight him a lot lately. Xena fills him on how the warlords want his head and tells him he should go undercover. The former god of war says he’d been thinking about becoming a king or a priest. But that’s not what Xena had in mind – she thinks he’d be better off hiding out on a farm.

Order the DVDswritten by R.J. Stewart
directed by Charles Siebert
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Kevin Smith (Ares), Noel Coutts (Gasgar), Kirk Torrance (Demetrius), Charmaine Guest (Greba), Norman Forsey (Dempar), Dai Henwood (Siki), Andrew Kovacevich (Allus), Megan Nicol (Bargirl)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

Categories
Season 07 Star Trek Voyager

Shattered

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate not given: A temporal anomaly stops Voyager in its path, creating dangerous feedback in the warp core – which then lashes out into engineering and strikes Chakotay. The first officer is rushed to sick bay, only to wake up to find that the Doctor doesn’t know what a mobile emitter is. A visit to the bridge proves to be even more surprising – Captain Janeway orders him arrested as a Maquis fugitive, even though she’s surprised to see him since Voyager has yet to depart Deep Space Nine on the mission to retrieve the Maquis. The cargo bay is crawling with Borg drones, including a still fully assimilated Seven of Nine. The astrometrics lab is manned by Icheb and Naomi Wildman, both adults and running the ship since the death of the command crew. And in engineering, Seska and the Kazons have taken over the ship. Time has fractured Voyager into countless splinters of past and future – but the only one who can perceive this is Chakotay, so how can he prove it to anyone else and repair the timelines?

Order the DVDsteleplay by Michael Taylor
story by Michael Sussman & Michael Taylor
directed by Terry Windell
music by

Guest Cast: Manu Intiraymi (Icheb), Martin Rayner (Dr. Chaotica), Martha Hackett (Seska), Scarlett Pomers (Naomi Wildman), Mark Bennington (adult Icheb), Vanessa Branch (adult Naomi), Terrell Clayton (Andrews)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
8th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Storm Warning

Doctor WhoThe Doctor happens upon a recursive disaster in the time vortex – a timeship whose fiery demise is repeating itself over and over again, leaving the vessel helpless to fend off the attack of vortex-dwelling creatures swarming over the wreck. The Doctor impetuously tries to nudge the timeship out of its predicament, putting the TARDIS in danger of joining it in its never-ending fate. The gambit works, but when the Doctor makes a hasty emergency exit of the vortex, vortizores follow the TARDIS to its destination: Earth, 1930, aboard the doomed maiden voyage of British Airship R-101. The Doctor becomes stranded aboard the ship – which history records as having crashed in France on its first flight with all hands lost – when the TARDIS, having landed in one of the ballast tanks, is dumped overboard. He then meets stowaway Charlotte Pollard – “Charley” for short – who boarded the R-101 in the guise of a steward, but has now been found out and is on the run. Lord Tamworth, the Minister of the Air, is also aboard, as is the dirigible’s nervous designer, fearful of the changes that Tamworth made to his specifications. And in Cabin 43, a heavily-sedated passenger is kept in isolation, though someone aboard the craft has made arrangements to return her home…to an alien space vehicle at an altitude of 5,000 feet.

Order this CD written by Alan Barnes
directed by Gary Russell
music by Alistair Lock / theme arrangement by David Arnold

Cast: Paul McGann (The Doctor), India Fisher (Charley), Gareth Thomas (Lord Tamworth), Nicholas Pegg (Frayling), Barnaby Edwards (Rathbone), Hylton Collins (Chief Steward Weeks), Helen Goldwyn (Triskele)

Timeline: after the 1996 TV movie and before Sword Of Orion

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
Farscape Season 2

Liars, Guns and Money Part 3: Plan B

  • By Dave
  • January 19, 2001

FarscapeAeryn and the mercenaries decide to revise the initial plan; they’ll break into the Shadow Depository, loot the place, and rescue Crichton. Everyone still gets rich, nobody stays in Scorpius’ clutches, everybody’s happy. Within the Depository, Scorpius makes contact with the neural clone and prepares to remove the chip from Crichton’s brain. The break-in distracts Scorpius enough for Crichton to persuade Natira to help him escape; after all, her odds of survival when all this is over are pretty nil unless Moya can help get her away as well. Even as the two try to escape, the team is suffering losses – and the neural clone is getting more and more assertive, demanding that Crichton just give up and go back to Scorpius.

Order the DVDswritten by Justin Monjo
directed by Tony Tilse
music by Guy Gross

Guest Cast: Paul Goddard (Stark), Wayne Pygram (Scorpius), Lani John Tupu (Crais), Claudia Karvan (Natira) Nicholas Hope (Akkor), Matt Newton (Jothee), John Adam (Bekhesh), Jeremy Sims (Rorf), Lionel Haft (Zelkin), David Bowers (Kurz), Thomas Holesgrove (Teurac)

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

Categories
Season 6 Xena: Warrior Princess

Dangerous Prey

Xena: Warrior PrincessAfter recieving an intivitation from Queen Marga, Xena and Gabrielle arrive in Amazon territory to find that she is missing. Varia isn’t happy to see them and thinks they should leave. Xena offers to hunt for the missing Queen. Gabrielle stays behind with the other Amazons. The warrior finds Marga, who has been seriously injured. The dying Queen asks Xena to look out for Varia. She thinks the young Amazon will be a good leader, but still has much to learn. Varia finds them just as the Queen dies. Xena notices that someone has carved a message into Marga’s leg. It seems that someone has decided to hunt the Amazons for sport.

Order the DVDswritten by Joel Metzger
directed by Renee O’Connor
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Tsianina Joelson (Varia), Sandy Winton (Prince Morloch), Craig Hall (Raczar), Sela Apera (Marga), Sara Whitman (Amazon #1)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

Categories
Season 07 Star Trek Voyager

Lineage

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate 54452.6: A nasty turn in engineering leads to a momentous announcement for B’Elanna Torres – she is pregnant. She and Tom try to digest the news in private, but aboard the confines of a starship word gets out, and B’Elanna’s crewmembers are bombarding her with everything from unsolicited parenting advice to requests to be godparents. B’Elanna, meanwhile, is suffering through her own private hell, fearful that – like her own father did when she was young – Tom was get fed up with the temperaments of a Klingon wife and daughter and abandon them both. But an unusual possibility presents itself when the Doctor uses genetic manipulation to correct a potential deformity – and B’Elanna sees a way to ensure that while Tom’s wife may be half-Klingon, further genetic alterations could give them a completely human child. Tom disagrees, but B’Elanna will go to any lengths to give the child what she thinks is a “normal” life.

Order the DVDswritten by James Kahn
directed by Peter Lauritson
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Manu Intiraymi (Icheb), Juan Garcia (John Torres), Jessica Gaona (young B’Elanna), Javier Grajeda (Carl), Paul Robert Langdon (Dean), Nicole Sarah Fellows (Elizabeth), Gilbert R. Leal (Michael), Majel Barrett (Computer voice)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Farscape Season 2

Die Me Dichotomy

  • By Dave
  • January 26, 2001

FarscapeThe crew takes their gains from the Shadow Despository to an ice planet that serves as home to the Diagnosan Tacot, a surgeon of great renown that they hope will heal Moya’s burns and remove the chip from Crichton’s brain. The neural clone, however, has gained the ability to assume control of Crichton’s body for periods of time, and exploits the other’s desire to help and trust Crichton to make its escape and signal Scorpius. When Aeryn pursues him, Crichton/Scorpius rams her Prowler, and although she ejects, the seat is damaged. She is unable to break free as the seat crashes into a frozen lake, killing her. She is entombed in Tacot’s cryogenic chamber, along with other recently- and near-deceased specimens that the Daignosan uses for transplant organs. After Aeryn’s funeral, the others ponder their next step. D’Argo plans to propose to Chiana and retire to a farm somewhere, but neither Chiana nor Jothee seem enthused by the idea as they grow closer. Rygel tries to buy his way off planet. Zhaan and Stark choose to stay with Moya, while Crais regrets that Aeryn never joined him aboard Talyn. A shackled and grieving Crichton undergoes the chip removal surgery, which temporarily removes his capacity for speech as well. And that’s when Scorpius himself shows up to collect his goods.

Order the DVDswritten by David Kemper
directed by Rowan Woods
music by Guy Gross

Guest Cast: Paul Goddard (Stark), Wayne Pygram (Scorpius), Lani John Tupu (Crais), Matt Newton (Jothee), David Franklin, (Lt. Braca), Hugh Keays-Byrne (Grunchlk), Thomas Holesgrove (Diagnosan Tocot)

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

Categories
Season 6 Xena: Warrior Princess

The God You Know

Xena: Warrior PrincessXena and Gabrielle have returned to Norse territory. They find Beowulf in a tavern and ask him to help them get to Valhalla. Three Valkyries who entered behind them offer to send Xena there by killing her. But she’s the one who sends them back out of the tavern, where a reporter wants to question her about why she has returned and if she plans to kill Odin.

Order the DVDswritten by Chris Black
directed by John Laing
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Kevin Smith (Ares), Alexandra Tydings (Aphrodite), Alexis Arquette (Caligula), Michael Hurst (Nigel), Luanne Gordon (Grinhilda), Alexander Petersons (Odin), Charles Mesure (Michael), Joel Tobeck (Lucifer), Peter Rowley (Charon)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

Categories
Season 07 Star Trek Voyager

Repentance

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate not given: Voyager’s quick response to an alien distress call turns into a crisis – the distress call is part of a trap. Eight convicts and their three guards are all disarmed in the process of transport, but this makes them no less dangerous. Despite a brief hostage situation, the prisoners are contained and Janeway adheres to the Prime Directive by offering to transport all of their guests to their original destination – and an appointment with a death sentence. But with everything to lose, the prisoners prove that they’re not quite so conscious of the rules as Voyager’s captain – and they’re not ready to go quietly.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Robert Doherty
story by Mike Sussman & Robert Doherty
directed by Mike Vejar
music by Paul Baillargeon

Guest Cast: Jeff Kober (Iko), Tim deZarn (Yediq), F.J. Rio (Joleg), Gregg Poland (Voyager security officer)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 6 Xena: Warrior Princess

You Are There

Xena: Warrior PrincessXena and Gabrielle are walking through a field littered with bodies when the Archangel Michael appears. He tells them that Caligula is behind all of this carnage and that he will kill anyone who will not join his cult of blood, particularly the followers of Eli. Xena realizes that Eve must have headed to Rome and threatens Michael, saying that if she can kill gods then she can probably kill Angels too.

In Rome, Caligula is showing off his immortality to the people to gain their loyalty. When he learns who Eve is, he plans to throw her in jail. But before he can a woman comes riding up in a chariot. It’s Xena and she’s prepared to kill him. Just as she’s about to strike, though, Ares knocks her down, saying that if Xena kills Caligula, she’ll kill Aphrodite too.

Order the DVDswritten by Emily Skopov
directed by Garth Maxwell
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Kevin Smith (Ares), Alexandra Tydings (Aphrodite), Alexis Arquette (Caligula), Adrienne Wilkinson (Eve), Charles Mesure (Michael)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

Categories
Season 07 Star Trek Voyager

Prophecy

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate 54518.2: Voyager is attacked by a cloaked ship which turns out to be Klingon in origin. The Klingon crew is multi-generational, having set out on a religious quest to find a savior before the signing of the Khitomer Accord, and they don’t take kindly to the arrival of a Federation starship. But they quickly cease hostilities when they meet B’Elanna and learn of her pregnancy, believing that her child is their savior. The Klingons even go so far as to sabotage their own ship, forcing Janeway to beam all 204 of them aboard Voyager. The crew is forced to share living quarters with the new arrivals, which causes no small amount of tension. But when the Klingons learn that B’Elanna is only half-Klingon, and that the father of her baby is a human, their spiritual fervor could turn deadly.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Mike Sussman & Phyllis Strong
story by Larry Nemecek & J. Kelley Burke and Raf Green & Kenneth Biller
directed by Terry Windell
music by David Bell

Guest Cast: Sherman Howard (T’Greth), Paul Eckstein (Morak), Wren T. Brown (Kohlar), Peggy Jo Jacobs (Ch’Rega), Majel Barrett (Computer voice)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 6 Xena: Warrior Princess

Path Of Vengeance

Xena: Warrior PrincessVaria has gathered the queens from the scattered tribes of the Amazon nation to meet and discuss plans of unification. A messenger arrives and tells them that Roman soldiers have been spotted in their territory. Varia decides the Amazons should attack them.

Eve is also in Amazon territory and the Romans find her. The captain tells her that the Emperor has sent them to protect her. She tries to send them away when the Amazons surround them and attack.

In a village nearby, Gabrielle has been trying to find a place for Xena and herself to stay, but says that nobody has room for them because of the Romans passing through. A Roman soldier stumbles into the village and tells them that Amazons attacked him and the troops he was with. He also tells them that the Romans were there to protect Eve.

Order the DVDswritten by Joel Metzger
directed by Chris Martin-Jones
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Adrienne Wilkinson (Eve), Tsianina Joelson (Varia), Kevin Smith (Ares), Morgan Reese Fairhead (Cyan), Marise Wipani (Kanae), Michelle Blanchard (Mawu-Ka), Kirstie O’Sullivan (Gwyn-Teir)

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell