The Changeling

Star Trek ClassicStardate 3451.9: The Enterprise is attacked and boarded by the unusual space probe Nomad, which Spock identifies as the combined remains of an alien robot and an Earth exploration probe. Nomad’s purpose – a confused mix of aliens’ orders and instructions from Earth – is to seek out and sterilize all impurities, including imperfect beings like humans. The only thing preventing Nomad from obliterating the Enterprise and everyone on board is the similarity between the name of Nomad’s creator and Captain Kirk, and Kirk must try to play that role as best he can while figuring out how to get rid of Nomad.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by John Meredyth Lucas
directed by Marc Daniels
music by Fred Steiner

Cast: William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), DeForest Kelley (Dr. Leonard McCoy), James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Majel Barrett (Christine Chapel), Blaisdell Makee (Singh), Barbara Gates (Crew Woman), Meade Martin (Crewman), Arnold Lessing (Security Guard), Vic Perrin (Nomad’s voice)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Patterns of Force

Star Trek ClassicStardate 2534.0: On arrival at Ekos, the Enterprise is the target of a nuclear missile attack, a technology which didn’t exist the last time a Federation ship visited the planet. Kirk and Spock beam down to investigate, discovering that the government on Ekos has been transformed into a Nazi police state which came about when Federation teacher John Gill tried to simply increase the efficiency of the government on Ekos. Gill is now under the control of the people he has tried to educate, and anyone who tries to reveal the truth about Gill or rescue him – including Kirk and Spock – are hunted men.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by John Meredyth Lucas
directed by Vincent McEveety
music by George Duning

Cast: William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), DeForest Kelley (Dr. Leonard McCoy), James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Richard Evans (Isak), Valora Noland (Daras), Skip Homeier (Melakon), David Brian (John Gill), Patrick Horgan (Eneg), William Wintersole (Abrom), Gilbert Green (S.S. Major), Ralph Maurer (S.S. Lieutenant), Ed McCready (S.S. Trooper), Peter Canon (Gestapo Lieutenant), Paul Baxley (First Trooper), Chuck Courtney (Davod), Bart LaRue (Newscaster)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Ultimate Computer

Star Trek ClassicStardate 4729.4: Kirk is ordered to relinquish command of the Enterprise to Dr. Daystrom’s new M-5 computer, which, according to Daystrom, can make all the decisions that a starship captain would encounter correctly and more quickly than any human. The Enterprise, with Kirk and a few others aboard, is engaged in Starfleet wargames, but the M-5 begins to treat the other ships as a serious threat and retaliates with full salvos of phasers and photon torpedoes, destroying one ship. Believing Kirk may have lost his mind, Starfleet gives the remaining ships permission to destroy the Enterprise.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxteleplay by D.C. Fontana
story by Laurence N. Wolfe
directed by John Meredyth Lucas
music by Sol Kaplan and Fred Steiner

Star TrekCast: William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), DeForest Kelley (Dr. Leonard McCoy), James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), William Marshall (Dr. Daystrom), Sean Morgan (Harper), Barry Russo (Commodore Wesley)

Notes: Dr. Daystrom’s disastrous experiment with the M-5 didn’t completely tarnish his legacy; there are numerous references in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager to the Federation’s Daystrom Institute of Technology.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Enterprise Incident

Star Trek ClassicStardate 5031.3: Captain Kirk, acting tense and irrational, orders the Enterprise straight into the Neutral Zone for no reason. Romulan warships (identical to Klingon ships due to sharing of technology) capture the Enterprise, and Kirk and Spock beam aboard the Romulan flagship. When Spock admits that Kirk may be unfit to command, the Captain lunges at Spock – and receives a “Vulcan death grip.” Kirk, actually alive, is beamed back to the Enterprise and reveals to McCoy and Scott that their actual mission is to steal one of the Romulans’ cloaking devices and escape intact.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by D.C. Fontana
directed by John Meredyth Lucas
music by Alexander Courage

Guest Cast: James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Joanna Linville (Romulan Commander), Jack Donner (Tal), Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel), Richard Compton (Technical Officer), Robert Gentile (Technician), Mike Howden (Romulan Guard), Gordon Coffey (Romulan Soldier)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Elaan Of Troyius

Star Trek ClassicStardate 4372.5: The Enterprise is ordered to ferry Ambassador Petri of Troyius to up the dohlman of Troyius’s sworn enemy, the world of Elas. The dohlman turns out to be Elaan, one of the most striking examples of the women of Elas, whose tears, according to legend, leave any man susceptible to her charms. Petri’s duty on the slow voyage back to Troyius is to train the savage Elaan in the more civilized ways of the Troyians, a lesson she does not willingly take on. After stabbing Petri, throwing numerous tantrums, and ordering her guards to refuse Kirk permission to resolve any disputes, Elaan sheds a tear, which infects Kirk, clouding his judgement at precisely the wrong time when a Klingon warship enters the sector.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by John Meredyth Lucas
directed by John Meredyth Lucas
music by Fred Steiner

Guest Cast: James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Frances Nuyen (Elaan), Jay Robinson (Petri), Tony Young (Kryton), Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel), Lee Duncan (Evans), Victor Brandt (Wilson), Dick Durock (Guard #1), Charles Beck (Guard #2), K.L. Smith (Klingon)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

That Which Survives

Star Trek ClassicStardate not given: Kirk leads a landing party to do a geological survey of an unexplored planet, but before they beam down, they see a woman appear out of nowhere in the transporter room and kill a crewman simply by touch, and then she disappears. Her appearance also affects the Enterprise, sending it well out of communications range, trapping Kirk and his team on the planet’s surface. The woman continues to appear, naming her victim on arrival and killing them by touch. Sulu is nearly killed by her, and the woman appears on the Enterprise as well, sabotaging the engines so the ship will never retrieve Kirk’s survey team, stranding them – as well as the crew of the Enterprise – with an unpredictable murderer.

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxteleplay by John Meredyth Lucas
story by Michael Richards
directed by Herb Wallerstein
music by Fred Steiner

Star TrekGuest Cast: James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Lee Meriwether (Losira), Arthur Batanides (D’Amato), Naomi Pollack (Rahda), Booker Bradshaw (Dr. M’Benga), Brad Forrest (Ensign), Kenneth Washington (Watkins)

Notes: “Michael Richards” is a pseudonym used by writer D.C. Fontana.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Dead Man / The Housekeeper

Night GalleryThe Dead Man: Dr. Talmadge is summoned to the home of an old friend and colleague, Dr. Redford, who introduces him to a man named John Fearing. Fearing, just by thinking of a disease, can manifest the symptoms of that illness. Redford says that Fearing’s ability is hereditary, and he hopes to learn more about it and harness it to cure all disease. Over dinner, Talmadge notices that Redford’s wife can barely hide her attraction to Fearing, who appears as a perfect physical specimen when he concentrates on being well. In his next experiment with Fearing, Redford hypnotically conditions his human guinea pig to imagine himself dead. Is he taking his experiment to a new level…or eliminating a rival?

Download this episode via Amazonteleplay by Douglas Heyes
from a short story by Fritz Lieber
directed by Douglas Heyes
music by Robert Prince / series theme by Gil Melle

Cast: Carl Betz (Dr. Max Redford), Jeff Corey (Dr. Miles Talmadge), Louise Sorel (Velia Redford), Michael Blodgett (John Fearing), Glenn Dixon (Minister)

The Housekeeper: Miss Wattle applies for a housekeeping job with the wealthy but eccentric scientist Cedric Acton. His plans for here go beyond tidying up the house, though – Cedric feels his wife has become too entitled to be tolerable. He wants to transplant another woman’s personality into his wife’s admittedly attractive body, and tells Miss Wattle of the riches she’ll be “inheriting” as the new inhabitant of that body. She reluctantly goes along with it, but finds she has no interest in remaining part of this experiment. When she tries to leave her “husband”, she comes face to face with the new housekeeper…her own replacement.

Night Gallerywritten by Matthew Howard
directed by John Meredyth Lucas
music by Robert Prince

Cast: Larry Hagman (Cedric Acton), Suzy Parker (Carlotta Acton), Jeanette Nolan (Miss Wattle), Cathleen Cordell (Miss Beamish), Howard Morton (Headwaiter)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes and other stories

Night GalleryThe Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes: TV executive Wellman is annoyed when one of his producers auditions a ten-year-old boy who supposedly has a spotless track record of predicting the future. When the child’s predictions start to come true, however, Wellman changes his mind, signing the boy (and his grandfather, who accompanies him) to a contract. One of his predictions is a big one – war and hunger will come to an end – but maybe that’s because people will also come to an end.

teleplay by Rod Serling
based upon the short story by Margaret St. Clair
directed by John Badham
music by Oliver Nelson / series theme by Gil Melle

Night GalleryCast:
Michael Constantine (Mr. Wellman), Clint Howard (Herbie), Bernie Kopell (Reed), Ellen Weston (Dr. Peterson), William Hansen (Godwin), Gene Tyburn (Floor Director), Rance Howard (Cameraman), Rosary Nix (Secretary), John Donald (Grip)

Miss Lovecraft Sent Me: A babysitter arrives for her first night of looking after her new charge in a castle-like mansion. She’s put off by the eccentricity of the child’s father, who apparently works nights. Now she wonders if she should stick around long enough to meet his child…

teleplay by Jack Laird
directed by Gene Kearney
music by Oliver Nelson

Cast: Joseph Campanella (Father), Sue Lyon (Betsy)

The Hand Of Borgus Weems: A man believes that one of his hands is under the control of some malevolent force, and is trying to commit murder. He demands that his doctor amputate the offending hand immediately…but his doctor’s hands may not be any more reliable than his own.

Night Galleryteleplay by Alvin Sapinsley
based upon the short story by George LAngelaan
directed by John Meredyth Lucas
music by Oliver Nelson

Cast: George Maharis (Peter Lacland), Ray Milland (Dr. Archibald Ravadon), Joan Huntington (Susan Douglas), Patricia Donahue (Dr. Innokenti), Peter Mamakos (Nico Kazanzakis), Robert Hoy (Everett Winterreich), William Mims (Brock Ramsey)

Phantom Of What Opera?: We all know the old story – the apparently dashing Phantom of the Opera is horribly disfigured beneath his mask. But what happens if the object of his affection and obsession isn’t much better off in the looks department?

Night Gallerywritten by Gene Kearney
directed by Gene Kearney
music by Oliver Nelson

Cast: Leslie Nielsen (Phantom), Mary Ann Beck (Beautiful Prisoner)

Notes: The cameraman in The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes is called “Rance” on screen – the real name of the actor playing him, Rance Howard, whose sons happen to be Clint and Ron Howard. Rance Howard would make a handful of appearances in the ’90s space opera Babylon 5 as the father of Captain John Sheridan.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Different Ones / Tell David… / Logoda’s Heads

Night GalleryThe Different Ones: 17-year-old Victor Koch is kept hidden away in isolation by his father, Paul, due to a physical deformity, but does not take kindly to that isolation, whether his father means well or not. Paul contacts a government agency dealing with cases like Victor’s, and is offered three options: taking no action, euthanizing Victor, or sending Victor to another planet as part of an exchange program that would welcome him with open arms. Paul opts for the most merciful of these options, sending Victor to the planet Boreon. But who will Boreon send as an exchange student to Earth?

Night Gallerywritten by Rod Serling
directed by John Meredyth Lucas
music by Oliver Nelson / series theme by Gil Melle

Cast: Dana Andrews (Paul Koch), Monica Lewis (Official), Jon Korkes (Victor Koch), Dennis Rucker (Man), Peggy Webber (Woman), Mary Gregory (2nd Woman)

Tell David…: Ann, lost while driving home in a thunderstorm, decides to momentarily take shelter at a house she spots along the way. The couple who live there, David and Pat, have an array of futuristic gadgets and seem to live an idyllic life; when Ann finally gets home, she is reminded that her life is anything but ideal, but David and Pat have invited her to visit again soon. When Ann does visit again, and mentions that David is her own son’s name, coincidences and details of conversations begin convincing Ann that she’s glimpsing her son’s future – a future which David says his mother did not live to see.

Night Galleryteleplay by Gerald Sanford
from the short story by Penelope Wallace
directed by Jeff Corey
music by Oliver Nelson

Cast: Sandra Dee (Ann Bolt), Jared Martin (Tony Bolt / David Blessington), Jenny Sullivan (Pat Blessington), Jan Shutan (Jane Blessington), Francoise Ruggieri (Yvonne), Anne Randall (Julie), Chris Patrick (David Bolt)

Logoda’s Heads: Major Crosby leads an expedition into Africa, searching for the missing brother of Henley, a younger member of the expedition. The few leads they have bring them to a village whose witch doctor, Logoda, is said to have magic thanks to the decapitated heads of his enemies. In trying not to cross Logoda, Crosby and his team ignore more immediate threats.

Night Galleryteleplay by Robert Bloch
from the short story by August Derleth
directed by Jeannot Szwarc
music by Oliver Nelson

Cast: Patrick Macnee (Major Crosby), Brock Peters (Logoda), Denise Nicholas (Kyro), Tim Matheson (Henley), Albert Popwell (Sgt. Imo), Zara Cully (Emba), Roger E. Mosley (Second Askari)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Implant People

The StarlostDevon, Garth and Rachel are resting after a long trek to one of the Ark’s other biospheres, and apparently not one of the better-appointed ones, as Garth is certain that they’ve wound up in a sewer. A young boy comes along and silently slips away with Garth’s crossbow, and the three try to follow him. Instead they encounter a surgeon named Brant, who introduces himself as the boy’s grandfather – and one of the implant people. A byproduct of an attempt to cure his grandson of being mute, the implants are now issued to nearly everyone in this dome, making crime nonexistent since any implant can be remotely activated and cause its wearer intense pain. But the implants have also put the population at the mercy of Roloff, a man who masquerades as an advisor to the dome’s elected chief legislator even as he plots to overthrow her. When he learns of the three trespassers, Roloff orders them to be held and implanted, but Garth escapes, learning of an underground resistance effort that aims to remove Roloff from power and stop the use of the implants. But how can Garth overthrow this tyrannical regime when Roloff can kill Devon and Rachel with the press of a button?

Get this season on DVDwritten by John Meredyth Lucas and Allen Spraggett
directed by Joseph L. Scanlan
music by Score Productions, Ltd.

Guest Cast: Donnelly Rhodes (Roloff), Pat Collins (Serina), Leo Leyden (Brant), Dino Narizzano (Domal), Jeff Toner (Jardy), William Osler (The Host)

Notes: The role of Roloff was played by Donnelly Rhodes, later much better known to genre fans as the constantly-smoking Doc Cottle in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Up Above The World So High

Planet Of The ApesVirdon, Burke and Galen spot something unusually large flying overhead; the two humans immediately recognize it as a primitive hang glider, which would represent a huge step forward for humans. The glider has also attracted the interest of the apes, however: Dr. Zaius sees great potential to enforce ape law from the air, while General Urko dismisses the glider as a toy. Its inventor is determined to keep developing it regardless of the risk, but when Virdon and Burke demonstrate some knowledge of flight, he instantly regards them with suspicion. And there’s someone else involved too – someone who sees the glider as the perfect way to drop bombs on the apes.

Order the DVDsteleplay by S. Bar-David and Arthur Browne Jr.
story by S. Bar-David
directed by John Meredyth Lucas
music by Lalo Schifrin

Guest Cast: Joanna Barnes (Carsia), Frank Aletter (Leuric), Martin Brooks (Konag), Mark Lenard (Urko), Booth Colman (Zaius), William Beckley (Council Orang), Ron Stein (Gorilla Guard), Eldon Burke (2nd Trooper), Glenn Wilder (Human Driver)

Planet Of The ApesNotes: This was the final live-action Planet Of The Apes project until the 2001 remake movie directed by Tim Burton, and the last Planet Of The Apes media to feature Roddy McDowall (1928-1998). With declining ratings, and the show’s increasing tendency toward controversial subject matter (including an entire completed episode that CBS deemed unsuitable for air), CBS opted not to order further episodes of the series.

S. Bar-David is a pseudonym frequently used by writer Shimon Wincelberg; he also used this pseudonym on episodes of the original Star Trek. Director John Meredyth Lucas was a frequent writer and director on that show as well, and was a name often seen in one of those capacities in 1960s TV credits. He also wrote episodes of The Starlost and Logan’s Run.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Logan’s Run (Pilot)

Logan's RunIn the year 2319, two centuries after nuclear war rendered the Earth’s surface uninhabitable for a time, humanity lives in the City of Domes, with every need – and every desire – supplied by the City’s computers. But at the age of 30, every resident of the City is required to take part in Carousel, a ritual sacrifice that keeps the City’s population growth at zero. Everyone is taught that Carousel brings renewal, life in a new body, but not all believe it; an underground railroad of “runners” steadily helps those who want to live past 30 escape. And the City dispatches Sandmen to deal with those runners – fatally. But not even all Sandmen believe the lie of Carousel; during a pursuit, Sandman Logan corners a runner and a woman named Jessica, both of whom confirm what he has already suspected: there is life past 30, and freedom beyond the City of Domes. Logan’s fellow Sandman, Francis, arrives and shoots the runner, but Logan knocks Francis unconscious before he can kill Jessica. Now as much of a fugitive as any runner, Logan follows Jessica outside the City to look for Sanctuary.

Before Francis can pursue Logan and Jessica outside the City, he is summoned to White Quadrant 1, a high security area of the City that few ever see. There, he meets a group of men who are clearly past the age of 30; they introduce themselves as the Elders who keep the City running, and make the rules about how society works, including Carousel. They make a bargain with him: if Francis brings the refugees back for “reprogramming,” he will be guaranteed a seat on the Elders’ council – and life beyond 30. He agrees and sets out on his mission.

Logan and Jessica take shelter in an abandoned military planning post, where they also find a solar-powered hovercraft. The vehicle helps them find a fallout shelter Logan spots on a map, but before they can explore the shelter, they’re pursued by raiders on horseback. They manage to enter the shelter and lock the door, finding a society of pacifists that has lived there for years. When one of the shelter-dwellers’ children hears Jessica’s tales of the outside, she investigates for herself and is captured by the raiders. Jessica, feeling guilty for inspiring the little girl’s misadventure, goes outside to find her and is herself captured. Despite the pacifists’ insistence that blood must not be spilled, Logan mounts a rescue operation anyway, destroying many of the raiders’ weapons himself before the shelter-dwellers emerge from underground to help him. After freeing all of the raiders’ captives, Logan and Jessica move on; shortly after they leave, Francis finds the raiders’ camp and gets the pacifists to tell him where his prey was headed.

Logan and Jessica arrive at a the foot of a mountain with a magnificent city built into its side, but strange energy emitters bring their hovercraft to a halt. Immaculately clad people welcome them to the city and offer to serve them, fulfilling any desire – but the first time Jessica mentions leaving the city to continue the search for Sanctuary, she and Logan discover that they are not guests, but prisoners. Their captors turn out to be robots whose “masters” are the skeletal remains of people who died in the nuclear war. Logan and Jessica befriend Rem, the only other “guest” in the city, who toils away at keeping the robots working. He offers to help them leave the city if Logan and Jessica will take him with them, but during their escape, Francis and two other Sandmen catch up with them. Rem is shot in the leg and goes down, but before Francis can capture Logan, the city’s robots emerge and claim the Sandmen as their new guests.

Rem manages to repair his own injuries – it turns out he is an android, a much more advanced machine than the city’s robots – and professes a genuine curiosity about the human concepts of love, self-sacrifice and freedom that his new friends have taught him. The three fugitives board the hovercraft and continue the search for Sanctuary.

Season 1 Regular Cast: Gregory Harrison (Logan), Heather Menzies (Jessica), Donald Moffat (Rem), Randy Powell (Francis)

Download this episodewritten by William F. Nolan & Saul David and Leonard Katzman
directed by Robert Day
scenes from the movie Logan’s Run directed by Michael Anderson
music by Laurence Rosenthal
music from the movie Logan’s Run by Jerry Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Lina Raymond (Siri), Keene Curtis (Draco), Wright King (Jonathon), E.J. Andre (Martin), Morgan Woodward (Morgan), Ron Hajek (Riles), J. Gary Dontzig (Akers), Anthony De Longis (Ketcham), Cal Haynes (Rider #3), Mary Hamill (Marianne), Ted Markland (Karlin), Sandy McPeak (Rider #4), Kimberly la Page (Leanna), Patrick Gorman (David), Gilbert Girion (Man), Marvin Dean Stewart (Paine), Michael Biehn (Sandman), Mary Ball (Woman), Gary Charles Davis (Barry)

Logan's RunNotes: Considered by Starlog magazine to be the most promising SF TV series of 1977, Logan’s Run borrows some visual elements from the movie – namely costumes and props, to say nothing several minutes of the movie’s “Carousel” scenes (complete with excerpts of Jerry Goldsmith‘s music, a rarity for the series). The segment of the story dealing with the fallout shelter and the raiders was a late addition to the script; the pilot was originally scheduled to be an hour long, but new scenes were written to fill it out for a 90-minute time slot. The plotline of the City Elders was a relatively late addition as well; planning documents for the series seemed to indicate that this storyline wouldn’t occur until later in the series. (Then again, those same documents hinted at Logan and Jessica returning to the City to free other runners, a story which the series didn’t stay on the air long enough to tell.) The series concepts were actually gestated during very early pre-production for a sequel to the Logan’s Run movie, but MGM turned the movie project into a TV series a few months before the release of Star Wars; several big names in SF were recruited, including story editor D.C. Fontana, and writers such as Harlan Ellison, John Meredyth Lucas and David Gerrold.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Judas Goat

Logan's RunLogan and Jessica are stunned to see a runner from the City of Domes on the road, and after he initially bolts upon seeing Logan’s Sandman uniform, they pick him up and bring him along. The runner insists that a movement is taking hold within the City – a movement that counts Logan and Jessica as its heroes – and they should return to lead the uprising against Carousel. Before there’s much time to think about it, a force field immobilizes Logan’s hovercraft, and armed men swiftly surround it – including a man who insists that the Sandman inside the vehicle should throw out his “weapon that blasts.” Logan, Jessica, Rem and their new runner friend are taken to a modern compound, where a community is presided over by a man named Matthew – the first man to run from the City of Domes. After a while, he recognizes Jessica, but doesn’t trust Logan, again because of his Sandman uniform. But Matthew has apparently changed since he became the first runner to sprint for freedom – he tells Logan and the others that, for the sake of Matthew’s personal Sanctuary, they can never be allowed to leave.

Download this episodewritten by John Meredyth Lucas
directed by Paul Krasny
music from stock music library

Guest Cast: Nicholas Hammond (Hal 14), Lance Le Gault (Matthew), Spencer Milligan (Garth), Wright King (Jonathon), Morgan Woodward (Morgan), Gary Tomlin (Joseph 8 ), Andrew Massett (Carlos), Diane Lander (Elna), Patrick Skelton (Mark), James Poyner (Theo)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Westworld Destroyed

Beyond WestworldWestworld has fallen. Security consultant John Moore, who set up security measures for Westworld before it opened, is brought in to help Delos Corporation account for all of the robots left over from Westworld. Simon Quaid, a brilliant but twisted cyberneticist who helped Joseph Oppenheimer create the Westworld robots, is fully capable of reprogramming any of them to do his bidding – including infiltrating the crew of a Navy nuclear submarine. Moore gets a crash course in how the robots work, and how there’s no one handy way to shut them all down: different robots have different programs, hardware and abilities for different tasks, and a different way must be found to shut down each one. Moore and a member of Delos, Laura Garvey, get special clearance to be aboard the sub before it ships out to sea…and once there, even if the robot is found, Moore will have to improvise quickly to keep it from nuking the mainland United States.

written by Lou Shaw
directed by Ted Post
music by George Romanis

Beyond WestworldCast: Jim McMullan (John Moore), James Wainwright (Simon Quaid), Judith Chapman (Laura Garvey), William Jordan (Joseph Oppenheimer), Stewart Moss (Foley), Dennis Holahan (Captain Farrell), Morgan Paull (Parker), John Kirby (Dudley), Paul Henry Itkin (Horton), Mo Lauren (Jan), Nancy McCurry (Roberta), Nicholas Guest (Sailor), Larry Levine (Technician), Cassandra Peterson (Dance Hall Girl), Edward A. Coch Jr. (Chubby Gunman), Alex Kubik (Gunfighter)

Notes: Produced by Star Trek veterans John Meredyth Lucas and Fred Freiberger, Beyond Westworld actually has very little to do with Westworld itself; it uses Westworld as a “home base” for its recurring villain, and features “control room” footage from the 1973 movie. Perhaps most curiously of all, where Westworld took place in an unspecified future era where hovercraft travel is the norm, Beyond Westworld curiously rewinds things and places it in a setting much closer to the modern day. And yes, that is a pre-Elvira Cassandra Beyond WestworldPeterson in a background part, and you do hear the familiar Enterprise bridge background sound effects in the Westworld control room – just the latest of a long string of appearances in other series since Star Trek had gone off the air in 1969. Somewhat unenviably stepping into the shoes of Yul Brynner for the small screen is actor Alex Kubik in an early TV role; he went on to appear in CHiPS, Airwolf, The Dukes Of Hazzard and Knight Rider.

LogBook entry by Earl Green