The Killing Game – Part I

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate not given: In World War II France, the leader of a resistance cell operates behind the scenes at her nightclub, worrying that her club’s singer – who also happens to be a weapons expert – is having second thoughts about working to free France of Nazi forces. Suspicions are heightened when the singer is shot down alongside a resistance messenger…but turns up unharmed shortly afterward. If the resistance doesn’t succeed in taking out a vital German radio installation, Allied Forces won’t be able to liberate their city.

On the eve of the critical espionage mission, the nightclub singer is the only one who realizes that she is Borg, the resistance leader is a starship captain, her bartender is a Vulcan, the message boy is a Talaxian, and the Nazis are actually the Hirogen, who have taken over a defenseless starship called Voyager to subject its crew to simulations of historical battles.

Order the DVDswritten by Brannon Braga & Joe Menosky
directed by David Livingston
music by David Bell

Guest Cast: Danny Goldring (Alpha Hirogen), Mark Deakins (Hirogen S.S. Officer), Mark Metcalf (Hirogen Medic), J. Paul Boehmer (Kapitan), Paul Eckstein (Young Hirogen), Peter Hendrixson (Klingon)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Killing Game – Part II

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate 51715.2: Janeway and Seven of Nine, free of the Hirogen neural implants which have been forcing their crewmates to relive World War II without any knowledge of their real identities, make their way through Voyager. Janeway hopes that she can talk the Alpha Hirogen into some sort of unconventional truce, only to discover that his views are unique among his race. Meanwhile, Voyager, already critically damaged, is further endangered because its own brainwashed crew and their holographic Nazi opponents are conducting a rematch of World War II throughout the ship.

Order the DVDswritten by Brannon Braga & Joe Menosky
directed by Victor Lobl
music by David Bell

Guest Cast: Danny Goldring (Alpha Hirogen), Mark Deakins (Hirogen S.S. Officer), Mark Metcalf (Hirogen Medic), J. Paul Boehmer (Kapitan), Paul Eckstein (Young Hirogen), Peter Hendrixson (Klingon), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Drone

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate not given: A freak shuttle encounter with a cloud of active plasma necessitates an emergency evacuation. The Doctor’s mobile holo-emitter and some of Seven of Nine’s Borg nanoprobes are fused in the beam-out, resulting in a new life-form. With its immense adaptive Borg capabilities and its advanced 29th century technology, the new Borg drone proves to be amazingly intelligent and almost friendly in a child-like way, though Seven is troubled by the drone’s curiosity about the nature of its Borg “ancestors.” Unfortunately, another aspect of the drone’s heritage – the signal which links it to the Borg collective – alerts the collective to its presence and Voyager’s location, and a deadly family reunion becomes imminent.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Bryan Fuller, Brannon Braga & Joe Menosky
story by Bryan Fuller and Harry “Doc” Kloor
directed by Les Landau
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: J. Paul Boehmer (One), Todd Babcock (Lt. Mulcahey), Majel Barrett (Computer voice)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Tacking Into The Wind

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate not given: Kira decides on a bold plan to steal one of the Breen energy-dissipating weapons so that Starfleet can study it and come up with a countermeasure. With a team consisting of herself, Garak, Damar, Rusot and Odo, she gets aboard a Jem’Hadar ship. But there are complications – they must wait for the Breen weapon to be installed, Rusot’s hatred for Kira is growing, and Odo has been trying to conceal the true extent of his illness.
Meanwhile, Gowron has been ordering Martok on several suicidal attacks, as part of a design to undermine Martok politically, yet Martok refuses Worf’s advice to challenge Gowron. And Bashir and O’Brien formulate a plan to lure a Section 31 operative to DS9.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Ronald D. Moore
directed by Mike Vejar
music by David Bell

Guest Cast: Andrew J. Robinson (Garak), Jeffrey Combs (Weyoun), Casey Biggs (Damar), J.G. Hertzler (Martok), Robert O’Reilly (Gowron), John Vickery (Gul Rusot), Salome Jens (Female Changeling), Kitty Swink (Luaran), J. Paul Boehmer (Vornar)

LogBook entry by Tracy Hemenover

Carbon Creek

Star Trek: EnterpriseOn the one-year anniversary of T’Pol’s assignment to the Enterprise, Captain Archer holds a dinner in her honor, also attended by Trip. When pressed to reveal why her last leave on Earth included a visit to Carbon Creek, Pennsylvania, T’Pol shocks Archer and Trip by recounting a story of the first contact between humans and Vulcans – a story which predates and completely contradicts the well-known and established historical accounts of Zefram Cochrane’s meeting with the Vulcans in the 21st century. And T’Pol has unusually intimate knowledge of the events that unfolded in Carbon Creek, for her own great-grandmother was one of three Vulcans who survived their ship’s crash-landing, forcing them to try to integrate into the small mining town until their distress signal was received by another Vulcan ship.

Order DVDsteleplay by Chris Black
story by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga and Dan O’Shannon
directed by James Contner
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: J. Paul Boehmer (Mestral), Michael Krawic (Stron), Ann Cusack (Maggie), Clay Wilcox (Billy), David Selburg (Vulcan Captain), Ron Marasco (Vulcan Officer), Hank Harris (Jack), Paul Hayes (Businessman)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Zero Hour

Star Trek: EnterpriseHoshi is barely able to summon up memories of the sphere-weapon’s design, let alone the strength to relay that information to Archer, but the captain presses her to recall the information as Degra’s ship speeds toward Earth and an attempt to intercept the Xindi weapon. In the meantime, the Enterprise’s mission proves to be more dangerous than expected: the Sphere Builders have erected dimensional distortion fields around their network of spheres controlling the Expanse, and if the Enterprise gets close enough to destroy even the weakest link in that chain, the instability could easily shred the ship and her crew. Hoshi is finally able to remember enough about the weapon to give Archer a way to disarm and destroy it, though Archer and his small force are unable to stop the Xindi-Reptilians from reaching Earth first and destroying an orbital station.

Archer alone takes responsibility for disarming the weapon, assigning Reed and the MACOs the task of fending off the small crew of Xindi-Reptilians aboard. The attempt to disable the Sphere Builders’ network in the Expanse is successful, though it almost succeeds in destroying the Enterprise and everyone aboard as well. The battered starship meets up with Degra’s vessel, where Reed and Hoshi report that the sphere-weapon was destroyed before getting a single shot off at Earth – but they also report that Archer went down with it, unable to beam off the sphere before it exploded.

What they don’t know is that prior to embarking on his fateful mission, Archer received a visit from time-hopping Crewman Daniels, giving him a glimpse seven years into the future at the founding of a united federation of planets – something Daniels says Archer is instrumental in creating.

And what they don’t know until they return to Earth is that, by being aboard the sphere when it was destroyed, Archer may have irrevocably changed the course of that future, and the Earth the Enterprise is returning to is not the Earth that her crew remembers.

Order DVDsDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
directed by Allan Kroeker
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: Scott MacDonald (Reptilian Commander), Rick Worthy (Xindi-Arboreal), Tucker Smallwood (Xindi-Humanoid), Josette DiCarlo (Sphere-Builder Woman), Bruce Thomas (Reptilian Soldier), Andrew Borba (Reptilian Lieutenant), Matt Winston (Daniels), Mary Mara (Sphere-Builder Presage), Ruth Williamson (Sphere-Builder Primary), Jeffrey Combs (Shran), Gunter Ziegler (Doctor), J. Paul Boehmer (Officer), Zachary Krebs (Andorian)

Notes: This episode was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup For A Series, Miniseries or Special in 2004, but the award instead went to the pilot episode of the FX Network’s black comedy about plastic surgeons, Nip/Tuck. The writers of the episode have since admitted that they had no idea how to resolve the World War II cliffhanger, but apparently new executive producer Manny Coto did have an idea.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Cupid’s Dagger

The OrvilleKaraoke night aboard the Orville is somewhat mercifully interrupted by new orders from Admiral Halsey: the Navarian/Bruidian conflict over the planet Lopovia – and its ruins that may indicate ancient settlement by either race, depending on DNA analysis – is coming to a head. Mercer is ordered to proceed to Lopovia and consult with a Planetary Union archaeologist, who will announce the results to ambassadors from both species immediately…in the hopes that the Union’s presence will keep a full-scale war from instantly breaking out over Lopovia. But a smaller-scale war seems inevitable when the arachaeologist turned out to be Darulio, the alien who ended Mercer’s marriage to Commander Grayson. Despite the palpable tension of sitting in the middle of a potential war zone, however, members of the crew begin acting strangely: after initially being enraged at Darulio’s presence, Mercer finds himself inexplicably attracted to his ex-wife’s former lover. Dr. Finn finally gives in to Yaphit’s advances. All of the strange behavior coincides with Darulio’s arrival, and may be related to his pheremones. As one of very few members of the Orville’s crew unaffected by these strange urges, Alara decides Darulio may be the key to preventing a war.

Order season 1 on DVD and Blu-RayDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Liz Helden
directed by Jamie Babbit
music by John Debney

The OrvilleCast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Halston Sage (Lt. Alara Kitan), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Chad L. Coleman (Klyden), Rob Lowe (Darulio), Victor Garber (Admiral Halsey), Larry Joe Campbell (Chief Newton), J. Paul Boehmer (Navarian Ambassador), Derek Mears (Bruidian Ambassador), Norm MacDonald (voice of Yaphit), Mike Henry (Dann), Ralph Garman (Kanoot), Stevens Gaston (Ensign Brooks), Gavin Lee (Henry Park), B.J. Tanner (Marcus Finn), Kai Di’Nilo Wener (Ty Finn), Alexander Bedria (voice from Comm)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Blood Of Patriots

The OrvilleIn the wake of the historic battle in which the Krill joined in the defense of Earth against the Kaylons, the Planetary Union is eager to press for full-on peace talks with the Krill, and sends the Orville to a meeting at which Captain Mercer is expected to sign a preliminary document to open negotiations. But upon arriving at the coordinates for the meeting, Mercer finds not just the expected Krill cruiser, but a Krill shuttle which that cruiser then fires upon. Crewed by a Union prisoner of war (who also happens to be an old friend of Malloy), the shuttle crashes into the Orville’s shuttle bay and its pilot asks for political asylum. The peace talks are suddenly off unless Mercer hands the former prisoner back to his Krill captors to stand trial – and almost-certain execution – for war crimes. Malloy insists that his old friend can’t be guilty of the killing spree of which he is accused, and insists that Mercer can’t extradite him. Questions remain about both the pilot and the woman who is with him, who he claims is his now-grown daughter, who was captured with him years ago…and his behavior is odd enough that no one can quite erase any doubts about his innocence.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Seth MacFarlane
directed by Rebecca Rodriguez
music by John Debney

The OrvilleCast: Seth MacFarlane (Captain Ed Mercer), Adrianne Palicki (Commander Kelly Grayson), Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Claire Finn), Scott Grimes (Lt. Gordon Malloy), Peter Macon (Lt. Commander Bortus), Jessica Szohr (Lt. Talla Keyali), J Lee (Lt. John LaMarr), Mark Jackson (Isaac), Ted Danson (Admiral Perry), Mackenzie Astin (Orrin Channing), Mike Henry (Dann), Robin Atkin Downes (Krill Officer), John Fleck (Ambassador K.T.Z.), Aily Kei (Leyna Channing), J. Paul Boehmer (Krill), Jim Mahoney (Brosk), Norm MacDonald (Yaphit), Francis Lloyd Corby (Crewman)

The OrvilleNotes: Though his more recent work has been in providing voices for Star Wars animated series such as Clone Wars and Rebels, guest star Robin Atkin Downes may be forever linked to his portrayal of the fandom-polarizing character Byron in the fifth and final season of Babylon 5. Guest stars J. Paul Boehmer and John Fleck are both recurring Star Trek guest stars, especially Fleck, who played the recurring role of the Suliban arch-nemesis Silik in Star Trek: Enterprise.

LogBook entry by Earl Green