The Spell Of Tut

BatmanThe theft of a string of amber beads – leaving behind far more valuable baubles – puzzles Commission Gordon and Chief O’Hara. The clues, however, add up to one thing: King Tut is at large once more, planning a new scheme to take over Gotham City. The amber beads contain ancient Egyptian scarabs whose bodily secretions, combined with other chemicals, can create a formula capable of weakening the will of whoever drinks it…and Tut intends to unleash this potion upon Gotham City as a whole, after testing it on Robin. But the Boy Wonder would rather take his chances against Tut’s hungry pets…

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Robert C. Dennis & Earl Barret
directed by Larry Peerce
music by Nelson Riddle / Batman theme by Neal Hefti

BatmanCast: Adam West (Batman), Burt Ward (Robin), Alan Napier (Alfred), Neil Hamilton (Commissioner Gordon), Stafford Repp (Chief O’Hara), Madge Blake (Mrs. Cooper), Victor Buono (king Tut), Marianna Hill (Cleo Patrick), Sid Haig (Royal Apothecary), Michael Pataki (Amanophis Tewfik), Boyd Santell (Sethos), Rene Paul (Man of Distinction), Peter Mamakos (Royal Lapidary), Van Williams (Green Hornet), Bruce Lee (Kato)

BatmanNotes: Holy superhero supergroup! Van Williams and Bruce Lee are this week’s “window cameos”, appearing as the Green Hornet and Kato. The Green Hornet series had begun its single-season run on ABC just a few weeks prior to this episode. The two characters would return for a more substantial guest shot the following March.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Tut’s Case Is Shut

BatmanBatman is able to break Robin out of his predicament, and the Dynamic Duo regroups to the Batcave to plan their next move. King Tut and his cronies, in the meantime, advance their plan to introduce the scarab concoction into Gotham City’s water supply, subjugating the will of the entire population of the city. When Batman and Robin see Commission Gordon become a mindless subject of King Tut before their very eyes, they worry that it’s too late. When Robin sees the same happen to Batman, he knows it’s too late.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Robert C. Dennis & Earl Barret
directed by Larry Peerce
music by Nelson Riddle / Batman theme by Neal Hefti

BatmanCast: Adam West (Batman), Burt Ward (Robin), Alan Napier (Alfred), Neil Hamilton (Commissioner Gordon), Stafford Repp (Chief O’Hara), Madge Blake (Mrs. Cooper), Victor Buono (king Tut), Marianna Hill (Cleo Patrick), Sid Haig (Royal Apothecary), Michael Pataki (Amanophis Tewfik), Boyd Santell (Sethos), Peter Mamakos (Royal Lapidary)

BatmanNotes: When you want flamboyant, exotic villainy, you want to cast Sid Haig. Perhaps best known for his stint as Dragos, the primary enemy of Jason Of Star Command, Haig has also appeared on Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, Electra Woman & Dyna Girl, The Six Million Dollar Man, Buck Rogers In The 25th Century, Automan, and Sledge Hammer!, among countless others, with big screen roles in THX-1138, Diamonds Are Forever, Kill Bill Vol. 2, and more.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Return of the Archons

Star Trek ClassicStardate 3156.2: Sulu and another crewman are investigating a primitive but ancient-Earth-like alien culture incognito, but their disguise is blown and they’re running for their lives. The Enterprise can’t beam Sulu up in time, and he is hit by a weapon on the planet which leaves him under the control of something or someone called Landru. Kirk and Spock beam down, finding the planet’s people engaged in unusual rituals, and also finding out from some of the locals that Landru has complete control over most everyone on the planet, aside from a small resistance effort. What begins as an effort to free the people on the planet becomes a matter of survival when Kirk and Spock become hunted by Landru’s “puppets.”

Order this episode on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxteleplay by Boris Sobelman
story by Gene Roddenberry
directed by Joseph Pevney
music by Alexander Courage

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), Harry Townes (Reger), Torin Thatcher (Marplon), Brioni Farrell (Tula), Sid Haig (First Lawgiver), Charles Macaulay (Landru), Jon Lormer (Tamar), Morgan Farley (Hacom), Christopher Held (Lindstorm), Sean Morgan (O’Neil), Ralph Maurer (Bilar), David L. Ross (Guard)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Ali Baba – Part 1

Electra Woman & Dyna GirlAs Electra Woman and Dyna Girl are covering an international gathering of influential scientists in their plain-clothes journalist alter egos, the diabolical criminal mastermind Ali Baba and his genie accomplice pluck an airplane out of the sky. That plane was carrying Professor Nabokov to the scientists’ conference, but Ali Baba wants the professor to hand over a formula that can change a person’s personality completely. When the two superheroines arrive to free the professor, Ali Baba uses the formula to turn Dyna Girl from Electra Woman’s greatest ally to her adversary.

written by Dick Robbins and Duane Poole
directed by Walter Miller
music not credited

Cast: Deidre Hall (Lori / Electra Woman), Judy Strangis (Judy / Dyna Girl), Norman Alden (Frank Heflin), Malachi Throne (Ali Baba), Sid Haig (The Genie), Ian Martin (Nabokov)

Electra Woman & Dyna GirlNotes: When you want flamboyant, exotic villainy, you want to cast Sid Haig. Perhaps best known for his stint as Dragos, the primary enemy of Jason Of Star Command, Haig has also appeared on Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, Batman, The Six Million Dollar Man, Buck Rogers In The 25th Century, Automan, and Sledge Hammer!, among countless others, with big screen roles in THX-1138, Diamonds Are Forever, Kill Bill Vol. 2, and more.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Ali Baba – Part 2

Electra Woman & Dyna GirlUnder the control of Professor Nabokov’s formula, Dyna Girl leads Ali Baba and his genie to Electra Woman’s secret headquarters, freezing Frank in the process. Electra Woman and Professor Nabokov escape from Ali Baba’s hideout and return to base, where they free Frank but discover that Dyna Girl is still in league with Ali Baba. Nabokov frantically tries to devise an antidote to his own formula, even as Ali Baba and Dyna Girl plan to use that formula to turn Electra Woman to a life of crime.

written by Dick Robbins and Duane Poole
directed by Walter Miller
music not credited

Electra Woman & Dyna GirlCast: Deidre Hall (Lori / Electra Woman), Judy Strangis (Judy / Dyna Girl), Norman Alden (Frank Heflin), Malachi Throne (Ali Baba), Sid Haig (The Genie), Ian Martin (Nabokov), Marvin Miller (Narrator)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Attack Of The Dragonship

Jason Of Star CommandScientist and inventor Professor Parasfoot presents a small robot, W1K1, to Jason, one of Star Command’s most seasoned space adventurers. When Space Academy is attacked by an unknown ship, W1K1 immediately proves to be useful in sealing up a dangerous gas leak. Jason contacts Commander Canarvin, Star Command’s leader, only to see Canarvin disappear from the screen, only to appear on Space Academy’s detectors somewhere in deep space. Jason boards his spacecraft, the Starfire, to rescue Canarvin and investigate the Academy’s unidentified attacker, but he has a passenger he hadn’t counted on – Professor Parsafoot has stowed away, hoping to see some excitement. After Canarvin is recovered, alive and well thanks to his life support belt, a gigantic ship pursues the Starfire. Jason orders Canarvin and Parsafoot into the Starfire’s shuttle and launches them back to the safety of Space Academy. As they escape, the huge ship looms over the Starfire…

written by Samuel A. Peeples
directed by Arthur H. Nadel
music by Yvette Blais & Jeff Michael and Horta-Mahana

Jason Of Star CommandCast: Craig Littler (Jason), Sid Haig (Dragos), Susan O’Hanlon (Capt. Nicole Davidoff), Charlie Dell (Prof. E.J. Parsafoot), James Doohan (Commander Canarvin)

Notes: Episodes of the first season of Jason Of Star Command were approximately 11 minutes in length, as the show shared a half-hour time slot with Filmation’s Saturday morning cartoon Tarzan And The Super 7. The opening titles describe Star Command as a “secret section” of Space Academy, so presumably Commander Gampu and his cadets are elsewhere on the Academy at the same time; as there’s virtually no crossover between the two shows other than the use of the same sets, costumes and models, the whereabouts of the Space Academy characters is unknown. After working on Jason Of Star Command, in-demand miniature model maker Ease Owyeung joined Industrial Light & Magic, where he built other instantly recognizable science fiction miniatures, including the refinery-like alien ships of Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, miniatures for The Empire Strikes Back, Jason Of Star CommandReturn Of The Jedi, Starman, E.T. and Innerspace, and later he supervised the construction of the original six-foot-long filming model of the Enterprise for Star Trek: The Next Generation. Although he is seen in the opening credits, Sid Haig only does a voice-over as Drago in this episode. The music from the animated Star Trek series continues to be used, as does that show’s concept of a “life support belt” which creates an invisible force field around its wearer (and prevents the costume department from having to make expensive spacesuits).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Prisoner Of Dragos

Jason Of Star CommandIn the clutches of the interplanetary warlord Dragos, Jason finds that his reputation precedes him. Dragos has been expecting Star Command to interfere, and creates an “energy clone” of Jason to return to Star Command instead of the real Jason. Unknown to Nicole and Professor Parsifoot, a similar clone of Commander Canarvan is already in their midst, and leaves Star Command headquarters defenseless.

Order this series on DVDwritten by Samuel A. Peeples
directed by Arthur H. Nadel
music by Yvette Blais & Jeff Michael and Horta-Mahana

Jason Of Star CommandCast: Craig Littler (Jason), Sid Haig (Dragos), Susan O’Hanlon (Capt. Nicole Davidoff), Charlie Dell (Prof. E.J. Parsafoot), James Doohan (Commander Canarvin)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Escape From Dragos

Jason Of Star CommandNicole, having escaped from Dragos’ ship thanks to Jason’s interference, returns alone to Star Command and stops Canarvan’s clone from lowering the shields. Aboard Drago’s ship, Jason uses Wiki to free himself and the real Commander Canarvan, and then helps Canarvan to escape in his Starfire shuttle. Jason, however, is trapped on the Dragonship with Drago and his minions…

Order this series on DVDwritten by Samuel A. Peeples
directed by Arthur H. Nadel
music by Yvette Blais & Jeff Michael and Horta-Mahana

Jason of Star CommandCast: Craig Littler (Jason), Sid Haig (Dragos), Susan O’Hanlon (Capt. Nicole Davidoff), Charlie Dell (Prof. E.J. Parsafoot), James Doohan (Commander Canarvin)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

A Cry For Help

Jason Of Star CommandCanarvan’s energy clone, under Dragos’ control, makes one final attempt to leave Space Academy defenseless. Jason is thrown into a dungeon, where he meets an alien princess whose world has been taken over by Dragos. They escape to the Starfire escape pod and take refuge on a planet, only to discover that the safety of their haven is only momentary – and not just because of Dragos.

Order this series on DVDwritten by Samuel A. Peeples
directed by Arthur H. Nadel
music by Yvette Blais & Jeff Michael and Horta-Mahana

Jason of Star CommandCast: Craig Littler (Jason), Sid Haig (Dragos), Susan O’Hanlon (Capt. Nicole Davidoff), Charlie Dell (Prof. E.J. Parsafoot), James Doohan (Commander Canarvin), Roseanne Katon (Allegra)

Notes: Dragos can apparently see everything that goes on at Star Command – security probably needs to do something about that. Also, the engines of Dragos’ ship can apparently destabilize an entire planet – the show’s makers probably need to double-check the laws of physics on that.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Wiki To The Rescue

Jason Of Star CommandLaunched by Jason from the surface of the unstable planet on which he’s tapped, the tiny Wiki robot homes in on Nicole’s Starfire and alerts her to Jason’s plight. Dragos delivers an ultimatum to Space Academy: surrender, or he will allow the Academy to fall into the sun. Professor Parsifoot, left in command in the absence of anyone higher-ranking, refuses to give in to Dragos’ demands. Nicole rescues Jason and Allegra from the planet moments before it explodes, but her Starfire is intercepted by the Dragonship. Jason hatches an audacious plan to abandon ship, leaving Dragos to pick up an empty Starfire which will self-destruct shortly afterward.

Order this series on DVDwritten by Samuel A. Peeples
directed by Arthur H. Nadel
music by Yvette Blais & Jeff Michael and Horta-Mahana

Jason of Star CommandCast: Craig Littler (Jason), Sid Haig (Dragos), Susan O’Hanlon (Capt. Nicole Davidoff), Charlie Dell (Prof. E.J. Parsafoot), James Doohan (Commander Canarvin), Roseanne Katon (Allegra)

Notes: Jason and company’s “life support belts” are conceptually similar to a life support system introduced in Filmation’s animated Star Trek series of the early ’70s, even if the “bail out of the Starfire” scene features atypically underwhelming special effects in a show that, for its time, generally boasted excellent effects scenes.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Planet Of The Lost

Jason Of Star CommandAllegra finds crystals on the surface of the asteroid where she, Jason and Nicole have taken refuge, but the two officers from Star Command are unimpressed with her find, as well as her insistence on being treated as royalty. When a giant insectoid monster attacks out of nowhere, Jason leads it away from his friends and drives it away by triggering an avalanche. Dragos’ space fighters accost Wiki in deep space, preventing the tiny robot from reaching Space Academy; fortunately, Wiki is close enough to its goal that the Academy helps him break free. Professor Parsafoot recovers the stranded space heroes, but Dragos intercepts them yet again. Jason has no choice but to send Allegra home via the Starfire’s escape pod, while the crew of Star Command find yet another planetoid on which to elude Dragos.

Order this series on DVDwritten by Samuel A. Peeples
directed by Arthur H. Nadel
music by Yvette Blais & Jeff Michael and Horta-Mahana

Cast: Craig Littler (Jason), Sid Haig (Dragos), Susan O’Hanlon (Capt. Nicole Davidoff), Charlie Dell (Prof. E.J. Parsafoot), James Doohan (Commander Canarvin), Roseanne Katon (Allegra)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Marooned In Time

Jason Of Star CommandJason’s latest planetoid hiding place seems to be a time warp – characters from Earth’s distant past appear and disappear when the Starfire first lands. But Jason, Nicole and Parsafoot are soon captured by a man claiming to be treasure-hungry pirate Captain Kidd, who takes Wiki to help him find a treasure Dragos has left on this world. Typically for Dragos, the treasure turns out to be a trap – but despite the danger, the loot is needed to power up Jason’s Starfire.

Order this series on DVDwritten by David Villaire
directed by Arthur H. Nadel
music by Yvette Blais & Jeff Michael and Horta-Mahana

Cast: Craig Littler (Jason), Sid Haig (Dragos), Susan O’Hanlon (Capt. Nicole Davidoff), Charlie Dell (Prof. E.J. Parsafoot), James Doohan (Commander Canarvin), Brendan Dillon (Captain Kidd)

Notes: Planets in Jason’s universe seem terribly prone to exploding.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Attack Of The Dragons

Jason Of Star CommandDragos spawns an electron storm in space, leaving Jason’s just-launched Starfire to be buffeted in the deep space equivalent of choppy waters. But with Captain Kidd aboard, Jason is able to pit the wits of one pirate against another (since Kidd is of the opinion that Dragos is little more than another scurvy dog of the high seas). Dragos dispatches all of his firepower to attack Space Academy, leaving himself open to attack from Jason himself. But can the Academy withstand the attack while Jason goes after Dragos?

Order this series on DVDwritten by Don Heckman
directed by Arthur H. Nadel
music by Yvette Blais & Jeff Michael and Horta-Mahana

Jason of Star CommandCast: Craig Littler (Jason), Sid Haig (Dragos), Susan O’Hanlon (Capt. Nicole Davidoff), Charlie Dell (Prof. E.J. Parsafoot), James Doohan (Commander Canarvin), Brendan Dillon (Captain Kidd)

Notes: There’s no small irony in the scene of Commander Canarvin demanding quicker results from Space Academy’s engine room (since Canarvin actor James Doohan was often on the receiving end of such demands in Star Trek). The voices of Dragos’ fighter pilots are, in fact, the heavily-processed voice of Filmation honcho Lou Scheimer.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Peepo’s Last Chance

Jason Of Star CommandDragos discovers Wiki and Peepo conducting a defense survey on the planet Arcturon, and sends his minions to capture them. When the robots fail to check in with Star Command on time, Jason and Nicole go to Arcturon to investigate. When Peepo realizes that Dragos’ henchmen plan to reprogram him, he sends Wiki for help, but it powerless to prevent Dragos from extracting the coordinates of Space Academy from his memory banks. Jason leads Dragos’ henchmen on a chase while Nicole frees Peepo, unaware that Peepo has been completely reprogrammed.

Order this series on DVDwritten by Don Heckman
directed by Arthur H. Nadel
music by Yvette Blais & Jeff Michael and Horta-Mahana

Cast: Craig Littler (Jason), Sid Haig (Dragos), Susan O’Hanlon (Capt. Nicole Davidoff), Charlie Dell (Prof. E.J. Parsafoot), James Doohan (Commander Canarvin)

Notes: Aside from the appearance of Space Academy itself in nearly every episode, this is the only episode to deliver on the intriguing notion that Space Academy and Jason Of Star Command take place in the same universe, with both sets of characters potentially existing side-by-side. Peepo was seen throughout Space Academy.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Disappearing Man

Jason Of Star CommandA Seeker spacecraft appears out of nowhere near Space Academy and disappears again, reappearing moments later in the landing bay. Jason and friends record strange sounds aboard the empty Seeker, but when played back at a slow speed, the strange sounds turn out to be the voice of missing Space Academy cadet Matt Prentiss, who has been missing for a year. Professor Parsafoot devises a way to speed Jason up into the same “time dimension” as Prentiss, but after Jason finds the missing cadet and returns him to normal time, the device malfunctions, stranding Jason.

Order this series on DVDwritten by Sid Morse
directed by Arthur H. Nadel
music by Yvette Blais & Jeff Michael and Horta-Mahana

Jason of Star CommandCast: Craig Littler (Jason), Sid Haig (Dragos), Susan O’Hanlon (Capt. Nicole Davidoff), Charlie Dell (Prof. E.J. Parsafoot), James Doohan (Commander Canarvin), John Berwick (Lt. Matt Prentiss)

Notes: Matt Prentiss is the only human character to carry over to Jason Of Star Command from Space Academy (original plans called for Commander Gampu to give Jason his orders, but a dispute with actor Jonathan Harris over merchandising royalties short-circuited the producers’ plans for such major continuity elements). He previously appeared in the Space Academy episode The Cheat. This episode shares many conceptual similarities with the Star Trek episode Wink Of An Eye – but to give credit where it is due, Jason figures the mystery of the mosquito-like voices much faster than Kirk does! In line with the notion that five years of his life have passed in the year that he has been missing, Prentiss’ hair has greyed (despite the fact that he still appears to be in his twenties).

LogBook entry by Earl Green