Year: 2011

Categories
Doctor Who New Series Season 06

The Almost People

Doctor WhoTrapped in the castle with a group of hostile Gangers imitating the physical forms and personalities of the humans of whom they’re copies, the Doctor is now faced with a copy of himself, though the Doctor’s Ganger seems benign and helpful no matter how much suspicion he receives from the humans. An evacuation flight is dispatched to the castle, and the race is on to greet it when it lands. The Gangers, fighting for their right to continued existence rather than the inhumane “decommissioning” that usually awaits them, are content simply to wipe out their former masters. Despite the humans harboring much the same sentiment toward the Gangers, the Doctor – and his duplicate – try to maintain the possibility of a peaceful solution. But as the humans – even Amy – continue to ostracize the surplus Doctor, he begins to wonder if he’s on the right side. And the Doctor and Rory make the horrifying discovery that there’s one more Ganger in their midst than they realized.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Matthew Graham
directed by Julian Simpson
music by Murray Gold

Cast: Matt Smith (The Doctor), Karen Gillan (Amy Pond), Arthur Darvill (Rory), Mark Bonnar (Jimmy), Marshall Lancaster (Buzzer), Sarah Smart (Jennifer), Raquel Cassidy (Cleaves), Leon Vickers (Dicken), Frances Barber (Eye Patch Lady), Edmond Moulton (Adam)

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
5th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Kiss Of Death

Doctor Who: Kiss Of DeathTegan and Nyssa enjoy a vacation world that the TARDIS has conveniently stalled on while the Doctor effects repairs. Turlough tries to stay aboard the TARDIS to help with the repairs, but the Doctor convinces him to step outside and enjoy himself. Within minutes of leaving the TARDIS, however, Turlough encounters an old flame, a girl named Deela, just before they’re both abducted by a pair of mercenaries who know Turlough’s identity. With the Doctor, Nyssa, and Tegan in hot pursuit in a decrepit mining ship, Turlough and Deela are taken to a planet once owned by both of their families. The mercenaries’ paymaster, Renor, needs Turlough and Deela alive to open a biometric lock to a dimensional vault side to contain unimaginable treasures. The Doctor’s procured ship is shot down and makes a barely-survivable landing, but the impact awakens a security system that has lain dormant for centuries, quietly forgetting its programming and going mad. Turlough and Deela are forced, at gunpoint, to try to open the vault, but the controls don’t work – and suddenly, everyone’s life is in danger from the whims of Renor and his hired thugs and from the living guardian known as the Morass.

Order this CDwritten by Stephen Cole
directed by Ken Bentley
music by Steve Foxon

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Janet Fielding (Tegan Jovanka), Mark Strickson (Turlough), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Lucy Adams (Deela), Michael Maloney (Rennol), Lizzie Roper (Hoss), John Banks (Kanch / Morass)

Notes: The Doctor bemoans his lack of the sonic screwdriver, which he has been without since the television story The Visitation. Turlough’s Trion roots were exposed in the 1984 TV story Planet Of Fire, but this story technically happens before Planet Of Fire, and offers an explanation of why Nyssa and Tegan never mentioned any of Turlough’s background to the Doctor.

Timeline: for the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough: between Enlightenment and The King’s Demons; for Nyssa: 50 years after Terminus. This story takes place after Heroes Of Sontar and before Rat Trap.

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
7th Doctor Doctor Who Lost Stories

Crime Of The Century

Doctor Who: Thin IceThe Doctor pays a visit to Markus Creevy’s daughter, Raine, 23 years after her birth. Markus has largely gotten out of organized crime, but despite his best efforts to ensure Raine has an education, she has turned her considerable intelligence toward such pursuits as safecracking. She’s been stealing some very specific items for an unknown client who pays very well; it turns out that the Doctor is the mystery benefactor who’s been engaging her services. He needs the Creevys to help him do one last “job” – and the stakes are high: the survival of humanity itself. An old enemy of the Doctor and Markus is trying to tip the balance of the Cold War by inviting alien mercenaries called the Metatraxi to demonstrate their gift for warfare. But the Metatraxi are losing track of which humans they’ve been hired to assist or attack. The Doctor has an ace up his sleeve to keep the Metatraxi busy…

Order this CDwritten by Andrew Cartmel
directed by Ken Bentley
music by Simon Robinson

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Beth Chalmers (Raine Creevy), Ricky Groves (Markus Creevy), Derek Carlyle (Nikitin / Parvez), John Albasiny (Colonel Felnikov / Waiter), John Banks (Metatraxi / Walnuf), Chris Porter (Sayf Udeen / Valentin)

Notes: In the original plan for Doctor Who’s 1990 season, Crime Of The Century would have been the third story, introducing Raine (originally named Kat Tollinger according to some sources) as Markus’ daughter, with Markus being envisioned as a recurring earthbound ally for the Doctor, a la the Brigadier (and anticipating new series characters like Jackie Tyler, Wilfred Mott and Craig). This story would not have featured Ace in its original form.

Timeline: after Thin Ice and before Animal

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
Doctor Who New Series Season 06

A Good Man Goes To War

Doctor WhoThe Doctor and Rory hunt tirelessly through time and space to find the real Amy Pond: the Amy who has been aboard the TARDIS since the trip to America has been a Ganger all along. Enlisting the help of unlikely allies – a Sontaran pressed into service as a combat nurse, a Silurian at large in Victorian London, even a fleet of Cybermen – the Doctor gathers an army to help him rescue his kidnapped companion. Held captive by the mysterious Korovian, Amy has already given birth to a daughter, Melody. Fully expecting the Doctor’s arrival, Madame Kovarian has assembled an army of her own, with the deadly headless monks to strike fear into anyone who doubts their duties. Just when the Doctor thinks he’s rescued Amy and her baby without any bloodshed, Kovarian springs her trap: the baby that the Doctor has rescued is a Ganger as well, and Kovarian has Amy’s real baby: a human child with TARDIS-altered DNA that can be traced back to Gallifrey itself, a child Kovarian intends to raise as the perfect weapon to fight the Doctor. Little do the time travelers know that they’ve already met Melody Pond, all grown up.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Steven Moffat
directed by Peter Hoar
music by Murray Gold

Cast: Matt Smith (The Doctor), Karen Gillan (Amy Pond), Arthur Darvill (Rory), Alex Kingston (River Song), Frances Barber (Madame Kovarian), Charlie Baker (Fat One), Dan Johnston (Thin One), Christina Chong (Lorna Bucket), Joshua Hayes (Lucas), Damian Kell (Dominicus), Neve McIntosh (Madame Vastra), Catrin Stewart (Jenny), Richard Trinder (Captain Harcourt), Annabel Cleare (Eleanor), Henry Wood (Arthur), Dan Starkey (Commander Strax), Simon Fisher-Becker (Dorium Maldovar), Danny Sapani (Colonel Manton), Hugh Bonneville (Henry Avery), Oscar Lloyd (Toby Avery), Nicholas Briggs (voice of the Cybermen)

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
5th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Rat Trap

Doctor WhoThe Doctor and his entourage arrive in 1983 and join an expedition into a network of man-made (but abandoned) subterranean tunnels teeming with rats, but they’re no ordinary rats: these rats show signs of intelligence, and the ability to communicate. Furthermore, they have plans for conquest, including a plan to release a plague capable of wiping out the human race. The Doctor must try to broker some sort of peace with the rats, a task made harder by the presence of Dr. Wallace, the scientist who initially experimented on the rats to augment their intelligence. Unwilling to compromise, the rats intend to destroy humanity and take over the world. Wallace, who was declared dead when his entire research project lost communication with the outside world in the 1960s, feels it’s his duty to deal with the threat, regardless of the cost, even after discovering that one member of the expedition into the tunnels is the daughter he left behind.

Order this CDwritten by Tony Lee
directed by Ken Bentley
music by Andy Hardwick

Cast: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Janet Fielding (Tegan Jovanka), Mark Strickson (Turlough), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), John Banks (Clifford Andrews), Alison Thea-Skot (Sally Lucas), Terry Molloy (Dr. Wallace), David Seymour (Kevin), Andrew Dickens (Matthew / Major Harris), Charlie Norfolk (Caitlin Jones)

Timeline: for the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough: between Enlightenment and The King’s Demons; for Nyssa: 50 years after Terminus. This story takes place after Heroes Of Sontar and before Rat Trap.

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
7th Doctor Doctor Who Lost Stories The Audio Dramas

Animal

Doctor Who: AnimalIntrigued by the robot guardians employed by the Metatraxi and built at Margrave University, the Doctor and friends follow the trail to that university in the year 2001. Brigadier Winifred Bambera and UNIT are already on the scene, conducting an investigation that they’re more than happy to recruit the Doctor’s companions for. Undercover as new students, Ace and Raine both meet Scobie, a brilliant science student whose fight-the-power mentality stretches from an elaborate scheme to free the school’s lab animals, to contacting an alien race and inviting them to Earth to share their enlightened mentality with humanity. One thing Scobie hasn’t counted on is that these beings see Earth as a ready-made feeding ground full of docile creatures. Fortunately, UNIT and its former scientific advisor are on hand to alter that perception.

Order this CDwritten by Andrew Cartmel
directed by Ken Bentley
music by Simon Robinson

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Beth Chalmers (Raine Creevy), Angela Bruce (Brigadier Winifred Bambera), John Banks (Henrick / Metatraxi), Anthony Lewis (Scobie), Dannielle Brent (Willa), Alex Mallinson (Percy), Amy Pemberton (Juno)

Timeline: after Crime Of The Century and before Earth Aid

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
Season 4: Miracle Day Torchwood

The New World

TorchwoodIn Kentucky, convicted child killer Oswald Danes’ time has run out, but apparently not his luck: despite being given a lethal injection, Danes convulses violently but does not die. In Washington, CIA agent Rex Matheson is impaled in a traffic accident, but despite doctors’ predictions that he won’t make it, he too pulls through. Across the entire world, death simply stops happening to the human race.

This is nothing new to the object of research being conducted by Matheson’s colleague, CIA agent Esther Drummond. An unexplained intrusion into the CIA’s computer system has wiped out any trace of the word “Torchwood,” leaving her to search through the agency’s physical records, a search that leads to an enigmatic man named Captain Jack Harkness. She’s more than a little surprised to find Jack himself in the archives, evading someone who’s trying to kill him; Esther simply gets caught in the middle.

In Wales, the only other surviving member of Torchwood, Gwen Cooper, has settled into motherhood in seclusion. With her husband Rhys, Gwen has gone completely off the grid, avoiding any contact with the outside world until she receives word that her father has suffered a heart attack. She quietly slips into Cardiff to see him, where she learns that his doctors can’t explain how he survived. It’s only now that Gwen is learning about death taking a holiday in the rest of the world.

Esther’s research into Torchwood intrigues Matheson, whose injuries are slow to heal despite his miraculous survival. He stubbornly arranges a flight to Wales to track down Gwen. Gwen is less than happy to be tracked down – but then she learns that he’s not the only one who’s tracked her down, she has to save Matheson’s life. With a heavily armed helicopter in pursuit, Matheson finds himself on the run with Gwen and her family, saved only by a timely intervention (and a handy stash of weapons) provided by Jack.

But Matheson still insists on extraditing Gwen and Jack to the United States, where he’s sure they hold the key to what’s going on. Along the way, Jack discovers that, while the rest of the human race is suddenly immortal, that condition no longer necessarily applies to him.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Russell T. Davies
directed by Bharat Nalluri
music by Ben Foster

Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Mekhi Phifer (Rex Matheson), Alexa Havins (Esther Drummond), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Bill Pullman (Oswald Danes), Arlene Tur (Dr. Vera Juarez), Paul James (Noah Vickers), Marina Benedict (Charlotte Willis), Brian Guest (Alexander Peterssen), William Thomas (Geraint Cooper), Sharon Morgan (Mary Cooper), Tom Price (Sgt. Andy Davidson), Penny Bunton (Female Hiker), Ron Butler (Senior Professor), Jim Castillo (Male Anchor #2), Rick Chambers (Senior Male Anchor), Hymnson Chan (Male Nurse), Van Epperson (Archivist), Ellen Fox (TV Journalist), Laura Gardner (Female Expert), Lauri Hendler (Angry Nurse), Carla Jeffery (Teenage Girl), Clint Jung (Male Professor), Charlene Lovings (Nurse), Jessica Mathews (Female Anchor #3), Rocky McMurray (Senior Guard), Laura Morgan (Flight Attendant), Phil Nice (Male Hiker), Bunnie Rivera (Rosita), Robin Sachs (British Professor), Heather Ann Smith (Joan Cabina), Jackie Torres (Female Anchor #2), Nischelle Turner (Female Anchor), David Grant Wright (Male Anchor)

Notes: British-born (but U.S.-based) guest star Robin Sachs played numerous guest roles on Babylon 5 – usually behind Narn or Minbari makeup – as well as appearing in Buffy and Alias. He’s done voice work for video games such as Dragon Age: Origins and Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic, and was the leader of the evil aliens in the movie Galaxy Quest. He’s the son of the late Leonard Sachs, who played Borusa in the 1983 Doctor Who story Arc Of Infinity. Van Epperson is no stranger to SFTV, having appeared in three Star Trek incarnations (TNG, DS9 and Enterprise). Jack uses the alias of his deceased former Torchwood colleague, Dr. Owen Harper, to gain access to the autopsy (Owen, played by Burn Gorman, was a Torchwood regular until dying not one but two deaths in season two).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 4: Miracle Day Torchwood

Rendition

TorchwoodRex extradites Jack and Gwen to the United States, leaving Rhys – who was never officially a member of Torchwood – in Wales with Anwen, Rhys’ and Gwen’s baby. Rex is mystified when one of his CIA superiors shows up unexpectedly in Wales to escort everyone back to Washington. On the flight back over the Atlantic, Jack falls deathly ill: someone else on the plane has poisoned him, and Rex quickly figures out that the hit has been carried out under orders, but probably not CIA orders. In Washington, Esther Drummond discovers that she and Rex have been set up, framed for something that they know nothing about, and tries to warn Rex that he can trust nobody once the plane lands on American soil. But unless Rex and Gwen can find out how Jack was poisoned, and find an antidote, half of Torchwood will already be gone before the plane lands.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Doris Egan
directed by Billy Gierhart
music by Murray Gold

Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Mekhi Phifer (Rex Matheson), Alexa Havins (Esther Drummond), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Bill Pullman (Oswald Danes), Lauren Ambrose (Jilly Kitzinger), Arlene Tur (Dr. Vera Juarez), Dichen Lachman (Lyn Peterfield), Marina Benedict (Charlotte Willis), Paul James (Noah Vickers), Tom Price (Sgt. Andy Davidson), Wayne Knight (Brian Friedkin), Tug Coker (Geoff Reed), Halley Feiffer (Lianna), Finn Witrock (Danny), Richard Augustine (George Sayer), Amy Benedict (Bridget Howe), Sedly Bloomfield (Man #2), Antonio D. Charity (Airport Security Cop), Erin Chenoweth (Greta), Ewan Chung (Yu-King So), Rachel Leah Cohen (Laurie), Joseph Eid (Man #1), Chrissie Marie Fit (Assistant), Bari Hochwald (ER Nurse), Scott Hoxby (Paul Goldstein), Ronobir Lahiri (Simran Baidwan), Don Luce (Gate Guard), David O’Donnell (Dr. Mandell), Jeffery Self (James Percey), Kristi Swensson (Woman), Luke White (EMT), A.J. Tannen (Government Clerk), Glenn Taranto (Security Chief), Richard Wharton (Dr. Paul Bell)

Notes: Wayne Knight unleashed forces he couldn’t control in Jurassic Park (1993), as well as uselessly unleashing Newman’s fury toward Jerry and gang throughout the series run of Seinfeld. Bari Hochwald is another Star Trek frequent flyer now appearching on Torchwood; she appeared as Dr. Bashir’s academic nemesis in Deep Space Nine, fell victim to a radioactive Federation space probe in one of Voyager’s final episodes, and appeared in an early, Klingon-centric episode of Enterprise. This episode’s mention that Oprah Winfrey is trying to land an interview with Oswald Danes would seem to either date Miracle Day prior to Oprah’s talk show going off the air in May 2011, or implies that Oprah’s show is still in production in whatever alternate timeline Torchwood takes place in. Miracle Day was already in production at around the time Winfrey announced her retirement from ongoing daytime TV.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 4: Miracle Day Torchwood

The Dead Of Night

TorchwoodAs the reality of the new condition of humanity sinks in with the public, different people deal with their sudden immortality in different ways. Some indulge in every vice imaginable, safe in the knowledge that it won’t kill them, but Dr. Vera Juarez and others in her field are becoming increasingly aware that while death has been eradicated overnight, disease hasn’t: anyone infected with a disease will simply manifest its symptoms forever. Others form a strange cult, the masked Soulless, whose message seems to be that humanity’s sudden immortality is not a blessing. They get no argument from Jack, who finds new ways to revel in his sudden mortality.

With the bewildered Rex and Esther in tow – now on the run from the CIA themselves thanks to their contact with Torchwood – Jack and Gwen fall into familiar old patterns, investigating how the “miracle” happened and at whose behest. But if they think that the CIA fugitives are Torchwood’s latest recruits, Rex’s lone-wolf behavior and Esther’s nervousness make them uneasy allies at best. And for CIA agents, they seem almost too ready to blow their cover. Gwen strong-arms Dr. Juarez into helping her infiltrate Phi-Corp, an international pharmaceutical company which seems poised to profit from the inevitable spread of disease by seeking Congressional approval for the free and easy distribution of its drugs. What’s more, Phi-Corp is so well-stocked that they likely knew of the “miracle” well in advance.

Phicorp has also picked up an unusual spokesman in convicted killer Oswald Danes. Having survived his own execution and obtained the services of a Phi-Corp public relations agent, Danes is a fast-rising celebrity and the subject of cultish adulation from the Soulless. He’s also the subject of Jack’s intense curiosity, but again, Jack’s every move has been anticipated.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Jane Espenson
directed by Billy Gierhart
music by Murray Goldr and Stu Kennedy

Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Mekhi Phifer (Rex Matheson), Alexa Havins (Esther Drummond), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Bill Pullman (Oswald Danes), Arlene Tur (Dr. Vera Juarez), Wayne Knight (Brian Friedkin), Dillon Casey (Brad), Richard Gilliland (Congressman Morganthall), Tasha Ames (Carla), Thea Andrews (Local Reporter), Richard Augustine (George Sayer), Daryl Crittenden (Young Man), Mitchell Edmonds (Senior TV Anchor), Matt Eyde (Atlanta Cop), Mary Garripoli (Woman Tourist), Ted Mattison (Phi-Corp Rep), Jason Medwin (Sunroof Screamer), George Murdock (Preacher), Brian Treitler (Dr. Murphy), Randa Walker (Candice Perlmutter), Maurice Webster (Cop), Michelle Wong (Nurse), David Youse (Dr. Rosenbloom)

Notes: While its original BBC broadcasts were always intended to be adults-only viewing, Torchwood took a brief detour into material that was too strong for UK viewing standards: the montage of sex scenes (both heterosexual and homosexual) were omitted entirely from the UK broadcast, seen only in America on Starz. As little vital story information is imparted in those scenes, however, it simply means that, while the episode is shorter, the story still tracks. Guest actor George Murdock’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo as a televangelist could be indicative of diminished career expectations, as Murdock played God Himself (or an alien facsimile thereof) in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989); he returned to the Star Trek franchise as Admiral Hansen, giving Captain Picard his fateful marching orders against the Borg in the Next Generation two-parter The Best Of Both Worlds (1990). Writer Jane Espenson – one of the stable of writers who worked with Joss Whedon on Buffy, Angel and Firefly – joined the Torchwood writing staff fresh from a short stint as the showrunner of Battlestar Galactica spinoff Caprica.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 4: Miracle Day Torchwood

Escape To L.A.

TorchwoodTorchwood makes a cross-country trip to Los Angeles, home of Phi-Corp’s corporate headquarters, to dig deeper into the pharmaceutical giant and find out how they seemed to know ahead of time that death would become a thing of the past. Jack continues to fixate on Oswald Danes, certain that keeping a careful watch on the convicted-pedophile-turned-charismatic-celebrity will reveal more about Phi-Corp’s plans. Esther and Rex let their guard down, perhaps fatally: Esther goes to visit her sister, only to be turned away at the door and told that she can’t see the kids. Rex’s visit to his father is even less welcoming, while Gwen gets disturbing news from Wales about her father. Oswald Danes and his Phi-Corp PR handler, Jilly Kitzinger, discover that he suddenly has an opposite number: a right-wing political figure who advocates the segregation from society of those who “should” be dead. Phi-Corp’s advance planning becomes more apparent – they’ve already bought up enormous amount of property globally to serve as “overflow camps” – as does their ruthlessness, as an assassin is dispatched to deal with both Danes’ nemesis and with Torchwood as they try to break into Phi-Corp itself.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodeteleplay by Jim Gray and John Shiban
story by Jim Gray
directed by Billy Gierhart
music by Murray Gold and Stu Kennedy

Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Mekhi Phifer (Rex Matheson), Alexa Havins (Esther Drummond), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Bill Pullman (Oswald Danes), Lauren Ambrose (Jilly Kitzinger), Arlene Tur (Dr. Vera Juarez), C. Thomas Howell (The Gentleman), Mare Winningham (Ellis Hartley Monroe), Juanita Jennings (Bisme Katsui), Candace Brown (Sarah Drummond), Kelvin Yu (Nicholas Frumkin), DeSean Terry (Male Nurse), Roger Vernon Burton (Thin Old Man), Katsy Chappell (Woman), April Clark (Young Mother), Anthony Dilio (Lobby Guard), David Fofi (Burly Guard), Teresa Garza (Spanish Newscaster), Roy Lee Jones (Maurice), JoNell Kennedy (Veronica), Masami Kosaka (Japanese Newscaster), Ronobir Lahiri (Simran), Michael D. Nye (Sick Man), Barbara Mallory (Scared Old Woman), Brian Keith Russell (Landlord), Christian Svensson (Chauffeur), Randa Walker (Candice), David Grant Wright (Male Newscaster)

Escape To L.A.Notes: Writer John Shiban has a long list of genre credits in Hollywood, with writing and producing duties on series such as Supernatural, The Legend of the Seeker, Star Trek: Enterprise and Vampire Diaries, as well as the non-genre favorite Breaking Bad. His early career was spent working for Chris Carter as a writer, producer and story editor on such series as The X-Files, Harsh Realm, and the final X-Files spinoff, The Lone Gunmen. He has also directed episodes of Breaking Bad and X-Files.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
7th Doctor Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

Robophobia

Doctor WhoThe Doctor, traveling alone in his TARDIS (which seems to have darkened from blue to black), arrives on a ship bound for the planet Ventaris, carrying a cargo of tens of thousands of robots. His arrival coincides with the beginning of a series of murders, of which he naturally becomes the chief suspect while trying to help the crew. The bodies keep piling up until the ship’s small crew is outnumbered by prematurely activated robots. Ever polite, the robots obliviously try to help the human crew, until a robot is exposed as the killer – and is then exposed to be a killer of a different kind. Now the ship is on a collision course for a heavily populated planet, and if it collides, the robots will be held responsible and others of their kind will be deactivated en masse, unless the Doctor can convince the real murderer to reveal what has driven him to these depths.

Order this CDwritten by Nicholas Briggs
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Jamie Robertson

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Nicola Walker (Liv Chenka), Toby Hadoke (Farel), William Hazell (Bas Pellico), Nicholas Pegg (Selerat), Dan Starkey (Cravnet), Matt Addis (Tal Karus), John Dorney (Leebar / Computer Voice)

Notes: Robophobia happens within months of the robot incident aboard the Sandminer (The Robots Of Death), which has apparently been swept under the rug. Robophobia sems to steer clear of most of the elements of the spinoff audio series Kaldor City, which was not produced by Big Finish but did have the blessing of Robots Of Death author Chris Boucher. Dan Starkey, the actor behind the Sontaran mask of the eleventh Doctor’s ally Strax, plays Cravanet here. Medtech Liv Chenka resurfaces alongside the eighth Doctor in the Dark Eyes 2 box set (2014).

Timeline: after Lurkers At Sunlight’s Edge and before Project: Nirvana and Black And White; possibly simultaneous with Protect And Survive

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Categories
Season 4: Miracle Day Torchwood

The Categories Of Life

TorchwoodGwen returns to Cardiff after Rhys informs her that her father has been taken to one of Phi-Corp’s suddenly ubiquitous overflow camps. Dr. Vera Juarez, upon hearing that the U.N. has issued new legal definitions of “categories of life” (with Phi-Corp’s input), leaves Washington for the west coast to join Rex and Torchwood. In Los Angeles, Phi-Corp prepares for a “Miracle Rally” with Oswald Danes as the keynote speaker, though Danes – already suspicious of how elaborately Phi-Corp has covered its own tracks on the internet – is growing irritated with the many drafts of the speech being written for him. Rex decides to exploit his injury to get admitted to an overflow camp, while Esther goes undercover in the camp’s office. Dr. Juarez uses her credentials to give the camp a surprise inspection, and is horrified at what she finds. The camp in Wales is no better, prompting Gwen to try to break her father out of Phi-Corp’s care, with disastrous results. In America, while Jack tries to exploit Danes’ sense that something is wrong at the heart of Phi-Corp, one of the new members of Torchwood will become the first human being to die in many days. But at whose hands?

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Jane Espenson
directed by Guy Ferland
music by Murray Gold and Stu Kennedy

Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Mekhi Phifer (Rex Matheson), Alexa Havins (Esther Drummond), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Bill Pullman (Oswald Danes), Lauren Ambrose (Jilly Kitzinger), Arlene Tur (Dr. Vera Juarez), William Thomas (Geraint Cooper), Sharon Morgan (Mary Cooper), Tom Price (Sgt. Andy Davidson), Fred Koehler (Ralph), Teddy Sears (Blue Eyed Man), Marc Vann (Colin Rex and the ModuleMaloney), Daniel Adegboyega (Guard), Brad Bell (Nurse Chris), Charles Carpenter (News Reporter), Jim Conway (Man), Jonathan Dane (Handsome Man), Teresa Garza (Spanish Newscaster), Brendan Hughes (Pidgeon), Joelle Elizabeth Jacoby (Excited Teenager), Liz Jenkins (Rachel), Ria Jones (Pushy Woman), Masami Kosaka (Japanese Newscaster), Eve Mauro (Maria Candido), Francince Morgan (Stressed Woman), Stuart Nurse (Thomason), Tracy Pfau (Pale Woman), Caroline Whitney Smith (Paramedic), Vito Viscuso (Angry Man), Randa Walker (Candice)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 4: Miracle Day Torchwood

The Middle Men

TorchwoodArmed with video of the death of Dr. Vera Juarez in one of the “modules” that have been mandated by law in every overflow camp, Rex now has to escape the camp to get that evidence to the outside world. Having learned of the purpose of the modules, Gwen is taking more aggressive steps to rescue her father from the overflow camp in Wales. Jack, trying to find out who’s pulling the strings at Phi-Corp, pays a surprise visit to one of the company’s top executives, only to discover that Phi-Corp itself is just a pawn in a much larger game. With their cover blown, Rex and Esther find that they can’t escape the overflow camp without shedding blood – either their own or someone else’s – and now that death is back on the table, the stakes have just gotten higher. Even if Torchwood exposes the modules’ ability to kill, the Phi-Corp juggernaut – and whoever is behind it – remains unscathed in the public’s eyes.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by John Shiban
directed by Guy Ferland
music by Murray Gold and Stu Kennedy

Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Mekhi Phifer (Rex Matheson), Alexa Havins (Esther Drummond), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Bill Pullman (Oswald Danes), William Thomas (Geraint Cooper), Ernie Hudson (Stuart Owens), Fred Koehler (Ralph), Marc Vann (Colin Maloney), Jason Brooks (Press Secretary), Ciera Payton (Janet), Jonathan Spencer (Tony), Eric Steinberg (Zheng Yibao), Alexis Delarosa (Young Guard), Brittnee Garza (Worker), Brendan Hughes (Pidgeon), Liz Jenkins (Rachel), Lena Kaur (Dr. Patel), Janice Kent (Female Psychiatrist), Isaac Stephen Montgomery (Stern Soldier), The Middle MenWilliam Patrick Riley (Hat Check Boy), Marty Ryan (Older Guard), Inger Tudor (Mrs. Owens)

Notes: Ernie Hudson is a favorite with genre audiences for his portrayal of Winston Zeddimore III, the fourth man to sign up for ghost-busting duty, in Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II. Marc Vann, who plays the inept but ambitious head of the San Pedro overflow camp, is a regular on CSI; he also appeared in several episodes of Lost as an unnamed doctor, so his characters have abundant experience in dealing with people who aren’t in the habit of staying dead.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 4: Miracle Day Torchwood

Immortal Sins

TorchwoodEllis Island, 1927: Jack Harkness befriends an Italian immigrant and falls in love. Even when it becomes clear that Jack leads a dangerous life and deals with forces beyond human experience, his lover stays by his side – at least until he sees Jack die. A seemingly happy reunion years later turns out to be anything but: Jack is betrayed and tortured, killed repeatedly for nothing more than sport and spectacle. His repeated resurrections, however, draw the attention of someone more powerful.

Los Angeles, 2011: With the forces behind the “miracle” communicating to her via her Torchwood-issued contact lenses, Gwen learns that Rhys, her mother and her child are being held hostage. The price for freeing her family is delivering Jack into the hands of whoever is calling the shots. Thanks to her Torchwood training, it’s a task she’s able to complete with ruthless efficiency – but sensing something wrong, Rex and Esther decide to intervene.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Jane Espenson
directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton
music by Murray Gold and Stu Kennedy

Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Mekhi Phifer (Rex Matheson), Alexa Havins (Esther Drummond), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Sharon Morgan (Mary Cooper), Nana Visitor (Olivia Colasanto), Tom Price (Sgt. Andy Davidson), Daniele Favilli (Angelo Colasanto), Pat Asanti (Inspector), Michael Chomiak (SWAT Member), Cris D’Annunzio (Salvatore Maranzano), Will Green (Young Priest), Paul Hayes (Costerdane), Immortal SinsEverton Lawrence (Ablemarch), Griffin Matthews (Young Man), Frank Medrano (Mr. Giardano), Angelica Montesano (Girl in crowd), Shawn Parsons (Frines), Vanna Salviati (Elderly Woman), Jayne Taini (Mrs. Giardano), Darren Dupree Washington (SWAT Leader)

Notes: This episode contains the first explicit Torchwood mention of the Doctor since Children Of Death: Day Five, and the first mention of the Trickster’s Brigade (Doctor Who: Turn Left, Sarah Jane Adventures: The Wedding Of Sarah Jane Smith) in Torchwood. Though it’s not made clear where the fateful visit to New York City falls in Jack’s personal Immortal Sinstimeline, he does mention Torchwood (and the Doctor restored the time-travel capability of Jack’s vortex manipulator), so it may well take place after Jack’s departure in Children Of Earth: Day Five.

Nana Visitor is famous to SF TV fans as Major (and later Colonel) Kira Nerys, the Bajoran first officer on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. She guest starred in several episodes of James Cameron’s Dark Angel series as Madame X (where she also pulled the strings behind evil plots).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Season 4: Miracle Day Torchwood

End Of The Road

TorchwoodJack is taken to be reunited with his lover from pre-Depression New York, Angelo Colasanto, who left instructions for his family to find Jack. Colasanto’s granddaughter reveals that after Angelo betrayed Jack to the locals, who repeatedly killed him just to watch him resurrect, samples of his blood were collected and sold to a coalition of three powerful families. Colasanto wasn’t a member of any of those families, but the elderly man does have one last trick up his sleeve: after keeping himself in top condition through old age, and then on artificial life support once his health fails, Angelo Colasanto dies. Rex’s CIA supervisor – already on the payroll of the three families – shows up to take charge of the situation, but Rex turns the tables. A top CIA operative named Shapiro arrives and saves Rex, but he’s still not sympathetic to Torchwood, and orders Gwen deported back to Wales. Alien technology is discovered in Colasanto’s house, and Jack believes it helped to shield Colasanto from the effects of the “miracle,” allowing him to remain mortal. Jack also firmly believes that this technology shouldn’t fall into human hands – and especially not into the hands of a covert ops organization. But stealing it from under the CIA’s nose may prove very costly to Torchwood’s leader.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodeteleplay by Ryan Scott and Jane Espenson
story by Ryan Scott
directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton
music by Murray Gold and Stu Kennedy

Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Mekhi Phifer (Rex Matheson), Alexa Havins (Esther Drummond), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Bill Pullman (Oswald Danes), Lauren Ambrose (Jilly Kitzinger), Candace Brown (Sarah Drummond), Sharon Morgan (Mary Cooper), Marina Benedict (Charlotte Willis), John de Lancie (Shapiro), Wayne Knight (Brian Friedkin), Paul James (Noah Vickers), Teddy Sears (Blue Eyed Man), Nana Visitor (Olivia Colasanto), Megan Duffy (Claire), Constance Wu (Shawnie), David DeSantos (Agent Baylor), Nayo K. Wallace (Wilson)

End Of The RoadNotes: Guest star John de Lancie is another Star Trek veteran, known to fans as the omnipotent, all-powerful Q, whose appearances covered three Star Trek series from the pilot of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) to an early Deep Space Nine episode (1993) and the final season of Voyager (2001). He co-starred with future Stargate SG-1 star Richard Dean Anderson in Legend, a short-lived UPN steampunk series, and made appearances in Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda and numerous other shows both science fiction and otherwise.

LogBook entry by Earl Green