Search Results for: Nicholas Briggs

Death And The Queen

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Doctor WhoIt’s Donna Noble’s luckiest day. A seemingly uneventful stop along the French Riviera puts Donna in the path of a foreign prince, and it seems – at least for a while – that she’s found true love. The sitting Queen is less than impressed with Donna, but grudgingly tolerates her. Neither the Queen nor the future Queen-to-be are overjoyed when the Doctor comes to call on Donna’s wedding day, but a wayward time traveler suddenly seems like less of a problem when a cloud appears outside the castle, declaring in a booming voice that death has come to the kingdom. Prince Rudolph sends his men into battle, and into the maw of certain death, and suddenly his future bride is uncertain about their future together…especially when she learns that becoming engaged to the Prince means being married to Death itself. Once again, Donna’s life depends on the Doctor ruining her wedding day…

written by James Goss
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Howard Carter

Cast: David Tennant (The Doctor), Catherine Tate (Donna), Blake Ritson (Rudolph), Alice Krige (Queen Mum), Beth Chalmers (Hortense), Alan Cox (Death)

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

The Pilot

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Doctor WhoBill Potts works in the university cafeteria, and though she’s not taking his classes, she attends lectures by a mysteriously tenured professor known only as the Doctor. He’s as likely to lecture on poetry as on physics, and seems to know a little bit about everything – a lot, actually. He’s also very observant, and knows that Bill isn’t one of his students, and offers to tutor her anyway.

Bill catches the eye of a fellow student named Heather, though their conversations never seem to go where expected. Heather is preoccupied with a puddle of standing water which has the audacity to exist in a fenced-in concrete area where there has been no rain for days. Bill relates this to the Doctor, who is suddenly very curious about the puddle, and the scorch marks surrounding it on the concrete: the telltale sign of a recently landed spacecraft. The next time Bill sees Heather, the girl is drenched in an unending torrent of water, has dead eyes, can only repeat what Bill says, and seems to be following her obsessively. Bill races into the Doctor’s office to get away from her, and the Doctor (with Nardole still in tow) whisks her away in the TARDIS. But wherever they go in time and space, whether it’s sunny Sydney or the hell of the Dalek-Movellan war, Heather follows…and won’t give up until Bill joins or rejects her.

Order the DVDDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Steven Moffat
directed by Lawrence Gough
music by Murray Gold

Cast: Peter Capaldi (The Doctor), Pearl Mackie (Bill), Matt Lucas (Nardole), Jennifer Hennessy (Moira), Stephanie Hyam (Heather), Nicholas Briggs (Dalek voices)

Doctor WhoNotes: This is the first (and only) screen appearance of the Movellans since their only other appearance in 1979’s Destiny Of The Daleks; they are primarily a background detail here, and not central to the plot, just like the Daleks that show up without being the central threat. The Doctor seems to have an abundance of his retired sonic screwdrivers on hand – score one product placement for Character Options and Underground Toys – and has framed photos of River Song and Susan on his desk.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

The Archive Of Islos

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Daleks!The Dalek fleet descends upon the planet of Islos, wiping out most of its orbital defenses within minutes. Their target: the Archive of Islos, containing information the Dalek Emperor needs for the ongoing Dalek war effort. The people of Islos go to ground, leaving their automated Archivians – artificially intelligent librarians of the archive – to deal with the Daleks. The Chief Archivian finally, after the planet has been heavily bombarded, offers the Archives to the Emperor Dalek, who orders his ship to land there to claim his prize. But what he discovers is that the Archivians have merely been stalling to cover their masters’ escape…with the contents of the now-empty Archive.

written by James Goss
directed by Peter Caddock and Jon Doyle
music by Steve Foxon

Cast: Ayesha Antoine (Chief Archivian), Nicholas Briggs (The Daleks)

Notes: Daleks! is set within the “Time Lord Victorious” alternate timeline transmedia event, and as such is not bound to some elements of Doctor Who continuity. (Other elements of Time Lord Victorious included novels, audio dramas, and comics, Daleks!all of them in a timeline somewhat removed from what is usually considered Doctor Who continuity.) Visually, there is a very strong influence from the Century 21 Dalek comics of the 1960s, including Dalek hoverbouts and an Emperor Dalek with a spherical head, as well as something of a video game aesthetic. The episodes were distributed via the BBC’s Doctor Who YouTube channel, and this episode has a running time of 13 minutes, 47 seconds.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Sentinel Of The Fifth Galaxy

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Daleks!In exchange for the safety of their organic masters, the Archivians of Islos have given a destructive noncorporeal entity free reign to destroy the Daleks. Heavy losses are suffered by the Emperor’s fleet, but when they attempt to flee to Skaro for reinforcements, the entity outruns them and destroys the Daleks’ stronghold on their own planet. An attempted evacuation also fails, leaving Dalek forces decimated. Reinforcements are summoned from a secret location in the Fifth Galaxy, tended to by a rickety robot who seems to have a tenuous grip on the details of who is in charge… or perhaps the robot, and the reinforcements it guarded, have been compromised.

written by James Goss
directed by Peter Caddock and Jon Doyle
music by Steve Foxon

Cast: Joe Sugg (R-41), Nicholas Briggs (The Daleks)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Planet Of The Mechanoids

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Daleks!Having lost the entire Dalek army hidden away in the Fifth Galaxy, the Emperor Dalek travels to the heart of Mechanoid space to propose an alliance with the longtime enemy of the Daleks. On Mechanus, the Mechanoid leader is skeptical of the proposal for cooperation, especially when the Emperor tries to avoid revealing that the powerful entity that has decimated Dalek forces was unleashed through the Dalek attack on Islos. Even as the Emperor and the Dalek Strategist confer with their Mechanoid counterparts, the tenuous truce between their armies breaks down quickly…while the transdimensional entity follows the Daleks to Mechanus.

written by James Goss
directed by Peter Caddock and Jon Doyle
music by Steve Foxon

Cast: Anjli Mohindra (Mechanoid Queen), Ayesha Antoine (Mechanoid 2150), Nicholas Briggs (The Daleks / The Machanoids)

Daleks!Notes: This is the first on-screen appearance of the Mechanoids since the sixth episode of the 1965 Doctor Who story The Chase. The episode’s title, also shown on-screen, either settles or further complicates a long-running confusion over whether the Daleks’ enemies’ name is spelled “Mechanoid” or “Mechonoid”. The Mechanoids made only one prior TV appearance, but were frequent foils for the Daleks in the Century 21 Dalek comics of the 1960s, which continue to be a significant influence on this series’ visual style. Anjli Mohindra starred as Rani in The Sarah Jane Adventures’ second through fifth seasons, later reprising the role for Big Finish.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Deadly Ally

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Daleks!The Mechanoid Queen discovers only too late that the Daleks led the all-consuming extradimensional entity to Mechanus in order to force and alliance; the Mechanoids must now fight for their survival. The entity takes over a single Mechanoid and demands that the last remaining Daleks be handed over to it. Using that Mechanoid’s internal sensors, the chief Mechanoid scientist gradually devises a defense against the entity, one which is powerful enough to expel it back to its native dimension. This now leaves the Dalek Emperor and the Dalek Strategist alone…surrounded by Mechanoids who are more than annoyed that they were tricked into defending their old foes.

written by James Goss
directed by Peter Caddock and Jon Doyle
music by Steve Foxon

Cast: Anjli Mohindra (Mechanoid Queen), Ayesha Antoine (Mechanoid 2150), Nicholas Briggs (The Daleks)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Day Of Recknoning

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Daleks!After the Mechanoid declaration of war, the Emperor Dalek and the Dalek Strategist race back to Skaro to revive the Dalek city, their ship so badly damaged that it can only crash rather than landing. The Mechanoids arrive soon aftward, prepared to wipe out the Dalek threat once and for all, only to find that the Emperor has already mustered an army of Daleks to defend the city. Fierce fighting ensues, during which the Dalek Strategist is surrounded by Mechanoids, including the Queen, who try to manipulate it into betraying the Emperor. But if it is willing to do that, who else will it betray?

written by James Goss
directed by Peter Caddock and Jon Doyle
music by Steve Foxon

Cast: Anjli Mohindra (Mechanoid Queen), Ayesha Antoine (Mechanoid 2150), Nicholas Briggs (The Daleks)

Daleks!Notes: Though the episode’s ending seems to hint at a further coming conflict with the extradimensional entity, this is the final episode of the series.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Power Of The Doctor

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Doctor WhoThe Doctor, Yaz, and Dan intercept a Cybermaster attack force as it launches an assault on a hyperspace train. The Cybermasters are targeting a container holding a Gallifreyan girl. During the battle, Dan barely survives a breach of his spacesuit helmet, and decides to leave the TARDIS and resume a life that, while it may be less exciting, is also far less dangerous. On Earth, former time travelers Ace and Tegan now work for UNIT, each of them chasing down different unusual events: Tegan is trying to retrace the steps of seismologists who have gone missing, while Ace is investigating a series of paintings that have been abruptly removed from public display. The Doctor receives a warning from a Dalek of an imminent attack on Earth, and, surprisingly, an offer of information to prevent that attack. But the message ends before any useful information can be conveyed, and the Doctor’s attention returns to tracking down the Gallifreyan child… and the fact that there’s suddenly an extra planet near Earth’s orbit in the year 1916 – the same year in which the Master is posing as Rasputin in Russia.

The Doctor and Yaz visit the extraneous planet, finding that the Gallifreyan child is simply a disguise employed by a Qurunx, a powerful sentient energy being chained to a Cyber-conversion planet by the Master and the Cybermen. But before the Doctor can unravel that mystery, the TARDIS is summoned to UNIT HQ in 2022, where Kate Lethbridge-Stewart needs the Doctor’s expertise on the parallel mysteries of the missing paintings and missing seismologists, which seem like a distraction from the events in 1916…until the Master’s hand is detected in the disappearances as well. The Doctor is briefly, awkwardly reunited with Ace and Tegan, but soon resumes the chase, tracking down the Master in Naples, and discovering he is responsible for killing the missing seismologists. UNIT takes the Master into custody, but this is exactly what he wants, as this allows him to bring an entire Cyber invasion force directly into UNIT HQ. The Doctor and Yaz, however, have already left again, once again following a lead from the Dalek’s message, leaving Ace and Tegan to try to help fend off the Cyberman attack. As Yaz anticipates, the Dalek message proves to be a trap. The Doctor is taken back to 1916 Russia, where the Master instigates a forced regeneration during which his consciousness is forced into the Doctor’s body, as Yaz is helpless to watch.

But the Doctor’s friends and allies, past and present, are legion. Yaz, with help from Vinder, Ace, and Graham, and with some helpful advice from a hologram of the Doctor, reverses the forced regeneration and thwarts the Daleks’ plan, and arrive just in time to see Tegan and Kate Stewart end the attempted Cyberman invasion. Even the Qurunx is freed. As the Doctor’s former companions return to their normal lives, Yaz prepares to return to hers, as the Doctor’s body, as a result of the trauma caused by the forced regeneration, is once more wearing a bit thin.

Order the DVDwritten by Chris Chibnall
directed by Jamie Magnus Stone
music by Segun Akinola

Doctor Who: The Power Of The DoctorCast: Jodie Whittaker (The Doctor), Mandip Gill (Yasmin Khan), John Bishop (Dan Lewis), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Janet Fielding (Tegan Jovanka), David Bradley (The Doctor), Colin Baker (The Doctor), Peter Davison (The Doctor), Paul McGann (The Doctor), Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Jo Martin (The Doctor), David Tennant (The Doctor), Sacha Dhawan (The Master), Jemma Redgrave (Kate Stewart), Jacob Anderson (Vinder), Bradley Walsh (Graham O’Brien), Patrick O’Kane (Ashad), Joe Sims (Deputy Marshal Arnhost), Sanchia McCormack (Train Marshal Halaz), Danielle Bjelic (Curator), Anna Andresen (Alexandra), Richard Dempsey (Nicholas), Jos Slovick (Messenger), Nicholas Briggs (Dalek voices / Cybermen voices), Barnaby Edwards (Dalek), Nicholas Pegg (Dalek), Simon Carew (Cyberman), Jon Davey (Cyberman), Chester Durrant (Cyberman), Mickey Lewis (Cyberman), Felix Young (Cyberman), Richard Price (Cyberman), Andrew Cross (Cyberman), Matt Doman (Cyberman), Bonnie Langford (Melanie Bush), Katy Manning (Jo Jones), William Russell (Ian Chesterton)

Doctor Who: The Power Of The DoctorNotes: This marks the first televised appearance of Tegan and Ace since their final TV appearances, in Resurrection Of The Daleks (1984) and Survival (1989), respectively. Dialogue for both characters seems to contradict adventures chronicled in other media. Ace says the last time she saw the Master, he was “half cat” (which would seem to indicate she hasn’t seen him since Survival, contradicting the New Adventures novel First Frontier); Tegan hasn’t seen the Doctor in 38 years, contradicting the Big Finish audio story The Gathering, which reunited an older Tegan with the fifth Doctor in 2006. However, the Master’s description of Ace’s eventual falling-out with the seventh Doctor lines up well with both the 1992 New Adventures novel Love And War and the later Big Finish audio adaptation of that novel, so perhaps this is something to blame on the wibbly-wobbliness of time. Tegan and Ace aren’t the only companions making their first appearances in a very long time; Melanie was last seen in Dragonfire (1987), and Ian Chesterton was last seen in The Chase (1966), winning William Russell the official Guinness World Record for the longest time between television appearances as the same character (56 years). Jo Jones (formerly Jo Grant), on the other hand, had made a relatively recent appearance in The Sarah Jane Adventures (The Death Of The Doctor, 2011). All of these actors, however, have been reprising their roles for Big Finish audio productions for many years. The Doctor says the Master couldn’t “corral Daleks and Cybermen” (see also: Frontier In Space and The Five Doctors, respectively). The Master also tried to forcibly steal the Doctor’s body in the 1996 TV movie, though in that instance the process was interrupted. Other than being the finale for Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor and Chris Chibnall as showrunner, The Power Of The Doctor was also intended to celebrate 100 years of the British Broadcasting Corporation.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Expeditions

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The Martian ChroniclesJuly 1976: Viking 1, an unmanned space probe, lands on Mars and transmits the first pictures of its surface back to Earth. No life is found, confounding centuries of speculation about canals and the aliens who might have constructed them.

January 1999: The first manned mission to Mars lifts off from Cape Canaveral, carrying a team of three astronauts to Mars. Unknown to them, their arrival has been anticipated by an advanced race of Martians whose presence went undetected by the Viking probes. When the astronauts from Earth land, a xenophobic Martian kills them before they even have a chance to walk on Martian soil.

April 2000: A second manned mission is launched to Mars, and its three-man crew is stunned when the Martian dust clears to reveal a very Earthlike environment. But it’s not the true Martian civilization exposed at last; instead, it’s an illusion tailor-made to emulate memories plucked out of the Earthmen’s minds. At first the astronauts are taken in by the illusion, but when they begin to question it and try to escape it, the Martians show their true form and intent, allowing the astronauts to die without getting a message off to Earth about life on Mars.

June 2001: Despite the tragedy, a more extensive follow-up mission is launched, with a larger crew commanded by Colonel John Wilder, who has overseen the previous missions from Earth. Almost immediately upon landing, evidence of a Martian civilization, seemingly abandoned, is found. There’s no longer any denying the presence of life there, though the monuments seem to be abandoned, perhaps evidence of an extinct civilization. Major Jeff Spender, Wilder’s right-hand man on Earth and hand-picked to join him on this mission, ventures off into the Martian ruins himself and comes back a changed man. But changed into what?

teleplay by Richard Matheson
based on the novel by Ray Bradbury
directed by Michael Anderson
music by Stanley Myers / electronic music by Richard Harvey

Cast: Rock Hudson (Colonel John Wilder), Gayle Hunnicutt (Ruth Wilder), Bernie Casey (Maj. Jeff Spender), Christopher Connelly (Ben Driscoll), Nicholas Hammond (Arthur Black), Roddy McDowall (Father Stone), Darren McGavin (Sam Parkhill), Bernadette Peters (Genevieve Seltzer), Maria Schell (Anna Lustig), Joyce Van Patten (Elma Parkhill), Fritz Weaver (Father Peregrine), Linda Lou Allen (Marilyn Becker), Michael Anderson Jr. (David Lustig), Robert Beatty (General Halstead), James Faulkner (Mr. K), John Finch (Christ), Terence Longdon (Wise Martian), Barry Morse (Peter Hathaway), Nyree Dawn Porter (Alice Hathaway), Wolfgang Reichmann (Lafe Lustig), Maggie Wright (Ylla), John Cassady (Briggs), Alison Elliott (Lavinia Spaulding), Vadim Glowna (Sam Hinston), Richard Heffer (Capt. Conover), Derek Lamden (Sandship Martian), Peter Marinker (McClure), Richard Oldfield (Capt. York), Anthony Pullen-Shaw (Edward Black), Burnell Tucker (Bill Wilder)

The Martian ChroniclesNotes: A lavish co-production between NBC and the BBC, shot on “otherworldly” Lanzarote (a volcanic island where the BBC would also later shoot the 1984 Doctor Who story Planet Of Fire), The Martian Chronicles was intended to be the major draw to NBC’s fall 1979 season. But Ray Bradbury himself, the author of the original stories the miniseries was based on, torpedoed that launch by calling the TV adaptation out as “boring” in a publicity appearance. With the creator of its major premiere alerting the public to a stinker, NBC rescheduled the miniseries to run during the winter doldrums of January 1980, before the ratings sweeps month of February (for which NBC already had a dire forecast, since the 1980 Winter Olympics would be airing during February on rival network ABC, likely trouncing anything scheduled against the games by NBC or CBS). The BBC didn’t air The Martian Chronicles until August 1980.

The show’s decks are stacked with genre veterans, including Roddy McDowall (Planet Of The Apes), Maria Schell and Barry Morse (Space: 1999), and Darren McGavin (Kolchak: The Night Stalker). Robert Beatty had appeared in pivotal episodes of Doctor Who (The Tenth Planet) and Blake’s 7 (The Way Back). Bernie Casey would appear in both Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Babylon 5 during the 1990s. (Tangentially, Rock Hudson had starred in 1971’s creepy non-genre movie Pretty Maids All In A Row, written and produced by one Gene Roddenberry.) Director Michael Anderson also had a well-known genre credit under his belt, the 1976 SF cult classic Logan’s Run, while one of composer Stanley Myers’ earliest TV music credits was for the 1964 Doctor Who story Marco Polo.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Settlers

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The Martian ChroniclesFebruary 2004: Even with the high cost in lives of the third manned mission to Mars, full-scale colonization of the red planet begins. Mankind is still unaware of the ongoing Martian presence. Mining begins on Mars, supporting the construction of buildings and roads. The invasion from Earth has begun.

The Martians stay hidden, observing and plotting, and occasionally trying to walk among the humans in disguise. One such disguise – the dead son of a couple who have moved to Mars – gives the secret away. A pair of monks nearly die in an avalanche, only to be saved by Martian intervention, though one of the monks is certain that it’s a sign of God, not a sign of alien life, and nearly goes mad trying to prove it. At a greasy spoon cafe established by one of Wilder’s former landing party members, a Martian appears in full ceremonial robes, only to be shot at point blank range. Another appear, seemingly surrendering any claim on nearly half of Mars. What no one on Mars realizes is that the red planet is soon to become humanity’s permanent home.

teleplay by Richard Matheson
based on the novel by Ray Bradbury
directed by Michael Anderson
music by Stanley Myers / electronic music by Richard Harvey

Cast: Rock Hudson (Colonel John Wilder), Gayle Hunnicutt (Ruth Wilder), Bernie Casey (Maj. Jeff Spender), Christopher Connelly (Ben Driscoll), Nicholas Hammond (Arthur Black), Roddy McDowall (Father Stone), Darren McGavin (Sam Parkhill), Bernadette Peters (Genevieve Seltzer), Maria Schell (Anna Lustig), Joyce Van Patten (Elma Parkhill), Fritz Weaver (Father Peregrine), Linda Lou Allen (Marilyn Becker), Michael Anderson Jr. (David Lustig), Robert Beatty (General Halstead), James Faulkner (Mr. K), John Finch (Christ), Terence Longdon (Wise Martian), Barry Morse (Peter Hathaway), The Martian ChroniclesNyree Dawn Porter (Alice Hathaway), Wolfgang Reichmann (Lafe Lustig), Maggie Wright (Ylla), John Cassady (Briggs), Alison Elliott (Lavinia Spaulding), Vadim Glowna (Sam Hinston), Richard Heffer (Capt. Conover), Derek Lamden (Sandship Martian), Peter Marinker (McClure), Richard Oldfield (Capt. York), Anthony Pullen-Shaw (Edward Black), Burnell Tucker (Bill Wilder)

Notes: Michael Anderson Jr. is the son of director Michael Anderson; he also appeared in Land Of The Giants, Psi Factor and an episode of the Highlander series.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Martians

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The Martian ChroniclesNovember 2006: Colonel Wilder flies a solo return mission to Earth, hoping to find survivors or some remnants of civilization, but nuclear war has wiped out the birthplace of the human race. The only surviving humans now live on Mars, and no further supply missions from Earth are coming. Wracked with guilt, Wilder returns to Mars.

As the human settlers eke out a meager existence trying to live off the Martian land, though some are seemingly oblivious to Earth’s fate. Wilder lands near the home of a brilliant scientist who, in despair, has turned his talents toward recreating his dead family members with robots. Returning to the Martian ruins that drove Spender mad, Wilder encounters a Martian – or perhaps a recorded message from one – who urges him to make peace with the destruction of Earth and accept that people from Earth are the new Martians.

teleplay by Richard Matheson
based on the novel by Ray Bradbury
directed by Michael Anderson
music by Stanley Myers / electronic music by Richard Harvey

Cast: Rock Hudson (Colonel John Wilder), Gayle Hunnicutt (Ruth Wilder), Bernie Casey (Maj. Jeff Spender), Christopher Connelly (Ben Driscoll), Nicholas Hammond (Arthur Black), Roddy McDowall (Father Stone), Darren McGavin (Sam Parkhill), Bernadette Peters (Genevieve Seltzer), Maria Schell (Anna Lustig), Joyce Van Patten (Elma Parkhill), Fritz Weaver (Father Peregrine), Linda Lou Allen (Marilyn Becker), Michael Anderson Jr. (David Lustig), Robert Beatty (General Halstead), James Faulkner (Mr. K), John Finch (Christ), Terence Longdon (Wise Martian), Barry Morse (Peter Hathaway), Nyree Dawn Porter (Alice Hathaway), Wolfgang Reichmann (Lafe Lustig), Maggie Wright (Ylla), John Cassady (Briggs), Alison Elliott (Lavinia Spaulding), Vadim Glowna (Sam Hinston), Richard Heffer (Capt. Conover), The Martian ChroncilesDerek Lamden (Sandship Martian), Peter Marinker (McClure), Richard Oldfield (Capt. York), Anthony Pullen-Shaw (Edward Black), Burnell Tucker (Bill Wilder)

Notes: Producer Milton Subotsky was one of the founders of ’60s British horror powerhouse Amicus Films, which also released the two ’60s big-screen adaptations of Doctor Who starring Peter Cushing. (Since the Amicus name was associated so closely with horror films, a fictitious production company called AARU Films was credited for the Doctor Who films.) Amicus also released the first filmed adaptation of the Tales From The Crypt comics, predating the HBO series by 17 years.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

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Star Trek MoviesStardate 8390.0: An enormous alien probe on a heading for Earth encounters and completely cripples the USS Saratoga, continuing unchecked toward Earth, where a high-ranking Klingon Ambassador is trying to convince the Federation Council that the Genesis device was, in fact, a weapon designed to eradicate the Klingon species. The Ambassador promises that there will be no peace between the Klingons and Federation while Kirk lives. In the meantime, Kirk and the rest of his crew, excluding Saavik, who stays behind, leave Vulcan in their hijacked Bird of Prey, which McCoy has christened the “Bounty.”

While en route to Earth, they receive an emergency transmission informing them that Earth’s defenses have been neutralized by a huge vessel of unknown origin, and that the alien ship is beginning to destroy the atmosphere and oceans, all the time transmitting indecipherable sounds. Analyzing a recording of the sounds transmitted by the alien ship, Spock determines that the probe can not be responded to because the sounds are apparently analogous to songs sung by humpback whales – extinct in the 23rd century. Kirk decides to risk a slingshot around the sun to send the Bounty into a time warp to Earth of the past and bring back enough whales to repopulate the species and, more importantly, respond to the probe.

The Bounty lands in San Francisco, 1986, and the crew splits into three teams. Kirk and a thinly disguised Spock set out to find the whales, which Kirk decides to take from the Cetacean Institute, a museum devoted to whales. There, Kirk meets Dr. Gillian Taylor as she leads a tour of the Institute, during which she shows off the Institute’s two whales, George and Gracie. Gillian also reveals that the whales will have to be released into the open sea due to the cost of keeping them in captivity. Spock dives into the whale tank and mind-melds with one of the whales, finding that Gracie is pregnant, but Gillian throws them out of the Institute, only to find them walking back to Golden Gate Park and picks them up again.

Chekov and Uhura find the Navy’s USS Enterprise and sneak in to collect photon spillage from the ship’s nuclear reactor in order to replenish the dilithium crystals on the Bounty for the return trip to the 23rd century, while Scotty, Sulu and McCoy seek out the materials necessary to build a tank for the whales and their water in the Bounty. Scotty’s team visits a plexiglas factory, where he trades the “recipe” for transparent aluminum (common in the 23rd century) in for the necessary materials and the loan of a helicopter to return the tank walls to the Bounty. (Scotty insists no damage is being done to history – perhaps the director of the factory to whom Scotty revealed the “secret” is the inventor!) Uhura and Chekov gather the necessary energy to ready the Bounty for its next time warp, but they are detected on the carrier. Chekov gives Uhura the collection device and has her beamed back to the Bounty, while he is captured and briefly interrogated.

Chekov escapes again, but is seriously wounded and taken to a hospital. Kirk, having befriended Gillian and learned how upset she is that “her” whales are about to be turned loose, gets the frequency to radio tags that the whales will be carrying so scientists can track them, but even Gillian doesn’t know the exact location to which the whales will be taken. Kirk receives the news of Chekov’s injury and, with McCoy, mounts a rescue operation which will require the help of Gillian. They enter the hospital disguised as surgeons, and McCoy performs a quick fix returning Chekov to normal after expressing alarm that 20th century medicine would have called for a hole to be drilled into Chekov’s skull. They “kidnap” Chekov from the hospital and take him back to the Bounty, where Gillian stows away by joining Kirk just as he is beamed aboard.

The Bounty lifts off and reaches the whales’ coordinates in the Pacific, only to find a whaling ship is in hot pursuit of George and Gracie. Kirk orders the Bounty to decloak, which frightens the poachers away while the two whales are beamed aboard. The Bounty makes it back to the 23rd century and crash-lands in San Francisco Bay after being disabled by the probe, and Kirk releases the whales into the ocean. George and Gracie re-establish contact between Earth’s whales and the aliens – a dialogue which had been in progress before man even existed – and Gillian begins her new life as a Federation cetacean biology specialist.

Kirk and the others are exonerated for all charges against them concerning the theft and destruction of the starship Enterprise, except for Kirk, who is demoted to Captain and given command of a new, more advanced vessel: the new Enterprise, NCC-1701-A.

Order this movie on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxscreenplay by Steve Meerson & Peter Krikes and Harve Bennett & Nicholas Meyer
story by Leonard Nimoy & Harve Bennett
directed by Leonard Nimoy
music by Leonard Rosenman

Cast: William Shatner (Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Spock), DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy), James Doohan (Scotty), George Takei (Sulu), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), Jane Wyatt (Amanda), Catherine Hicks (Dr. Gillian Taylor), Mark Lenard (Sarek), Robin Curtis (Lt. Saavik), Robert Ellenstein (Federation Council President), John Schuck (Klingon Ambassador), Brock Peters (Admiral Cartwright), Michael Snyder (Starfleet Communications Officer), Michael Berryman (Starfleet Display Officer), Mike Brislane (USS Saratoga Science Officer), Grace Lee Whitney (Commander Rand), Vijay Amritraj (Starship Captain), Majel Barrett (Commander Chapel), Nick Ramus (USS Saratoga Helmsman), Thaddeus Golas (Controller #1), Martin Pistone (Controller #2), Scott DeVenney (Bob Briggs), Viola Stimpson (Lady in tour), Phil Rubenstein (Garbageman #1), John Miranda (Garbageman #2), Joe Knowland (Antique Store Owner), Bob Sarlatte (Waiter), Everett Lee (Cafe Owner), Richard Harder (Joe), Alex Henteloff (Nichols), Tony Edwards (Pilot), Eve Smith (Elderly Patient), Tom Mustin (Intern #1), Greg Karas (Intern #2), Raymond Singer (Young Doctor), David Ellenstein (Doctor #1), Judy Levitt (Doctor #2), Teresa E. Victor (Usher), James Menges (Jogger), Kirk Thatcher (Punk on bus), Jeff Lester (FBI Agent), Joe Lando (Shore Patrolman), Newell Tarrant (CDO), Mike Timoney, Jeffrey Martin (Electronic Technicians), 1st Sgt. Joseph Naradzay USMC (Marine Sergeant), 1st Sgt. Donald W. Zautcke USMC (Marine Lieutenant)

Notes: Often, the version of the “past” presented in Star Trek in the 1960s dealt with events still in the future, such as the Star Trek IVEugenics Wars mentioned in Space Seed, supposedly in the late 1990s. Happily enough, such events have not taken place, and a similar inaccuracy, though it didn’t exist when the movie was first released, now occurs in Star Trek IV. Though in 1986, while the story was being written and filmed, there was still a Leningrad and still a Soviet Union, those officially ceased to exist in 1991 with the advent of the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the city of Leningrad was promptly restored to its original name – St. Petersburg. Early drafts of the story split Dr. Gillian Taylor into two characters – the marine biologist we saw in the movie, and an idealistic schoolteacher, a character written for comedian Eddie Murphy. The two characters were combined in later drafts of the screenplay, and in any case, Murphy was busy with another Paramount film at the time, The Golden Child.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Curse Of Fenric

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Doctor WhoThe Doctor and Ace arrive at a soggy British naval camp in 1943, into which the Time Lord confidently strides, not even attempting to conceal his presence. He mingles with the base’s disturbed commander and the brilliant but paranoid Dr. Judson, creator of the Ultima code-breaking device. The Doctor and Ace later encounter a small platoon of Russian commandos who plan to steal Ultima – a move which has been anticipated. In the background lurks a devious alien presence with whom the Doctor has an old score to settle – provided that the humans in the naval camp, merely pawns in a much more complex game, don’t destroy their own world first.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Ian Briggs
directed by Nicholas Mallett
music by Mark Ayres

Doctor WhoCast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred, Dinsdale Landen (Dr. Judson), Alfred Lynch (Commander Millington), Tomek Bork (Sorin), Joann Kenny (Jean), Joanne Bell (Phyllis), Peter Czajkowski (Sergeant Prozorov), Nicholas Parsons (Reverend Wainwright), Cory Pulman (Kathleen Dudman), Marek Anton (Vershinin), Stevan Rimkus (Captain Bates), Marcus Hutton (Sergeant Leigh), Janet Henfrey (Ms. Hardaker), Anne Reid (Nurse Crane), Mark Conrad (Petrossian), Christien Anholt (Perkins), Aaron Hanley (Baby), Raymond Trickett (Ancient Haemovore), Cy Town (Haemovore)

Broadcast from October 25 through November 15, 1989

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Daleks In Manhattan

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Doctor WhoIn the throes of the Great Depression, New York City’s towering Empire State Building is erected even as able-bodied men eke out a barely-adequate existence in its shadow, unable to find work. But something other than poverty is stalking them – rumors circulate of pig-faced creatures who walk like humans and abduct unsuspecting people who are then never seen again. The TARDIS lands in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, and the Doctor and Martha make their way to Manhattan, where they learn of the abductions and follow clues to the sewer tunnels beneath the city. The Doctor does indeed find the pig-like beings – humans who have been subjected to genetic experimentation and mutation – but he also finds an amoeboid life form whose origins he knows all too well: a failed attempt to create a new mutant to occupy a Dalek casing. By the time the Doctor and Martha find the Daleks’ base of operations beneath the streets of New York City, the Daleks have already taken a terrifying new step in their own evolution.

Download this episodewritten by Helen Raynor
directed by James Strong
music by Murray Gold

Guest Cast: Miranda Raison (Tallulah), Ryan Carnes (Laszlo), Hugh Quarshie (Solomon), Andrew Garfield (Frank), Eric Loren (Mr. Diagoras), Flik Swan (Myrna), Alexis Caley (Lois), Earl Perkins (Man #1), Peter Brooke (Man #2), Ian Porter (Foreman), Joe Montana (Worker #1), Stewart Alexander (Worker #2), Mel Taylor (Dock Worker), Barnaby Edwards (Dalek Operator), Nicholas Pegg (Dalek Operator), Anthony Spargo (Dalek Operator), David Hankinson (Dalek Operator), Nick Briggs (Dalek voices), Paul Kasey (Hero Pig)

Daleks In ManhattanNotes: This marks the first time that footage for episodes of Doctor Who has been custom-shot in the United States. In 1985, the Colin Baker story The Two Doctors was originally written to take place in New Orleans, but budget constraints forced the story to be rewritten to take place in Seville. The 1996 TV movie’s shots of San Francisco were taken from stock footage (the movie itself was shot in Vancouver). For Daleks In Manhattan and Evolution Of The Daleks, director James Strong and a small camera crew from BBC Wales traveled to New York City and shot video and photos – much of which would be digitally touched up in post-production to “de-age” the city to the 1930s; most of the footage – even the scenes that appear to be at the base of the Statue of Liberty – were still filmed in Cardiff. Guest star Hugh Quarshie has dabbled with Duane Dibbley in Red Dwarf and protected Padme as Captain Panaka in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Evolution Of The Daleks

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Doctor WhoDalek Sec, transformed into a hybrid between a Dalek’s mutant occupant and a human, terrifies not only the Doctor and Martha, but even its fellow Daleks. Fearing any evolution that could steer them away from being “pure” Daleks, the rest of the Cult of Skaro now treat their leader’s orders with skepticism. The Doctor and Martha lead their fellow captives to the relative safety of Central Park, but with the realization that the Doctor is working against them, the Daleks follow, no longer worried about hiding. When Dalek Sec spares the Doctor from imminent extermination, the other three Daleks turn against him. With his one hope of reasoning with a new breed of Daleks gone, the Doctor is all that stands between Earth in one of its most defenseless junctures in history and the Daleks’ hunger for conquest.

Download this episodewritten by Helen Raynor
directed by James Strong
music by Murray Gold

Guest Cast: Miranda Raison (Tallulah), Ryan Carnes (Laszlo), Hugh Quarshie (Solomon), Andrew Garfield (Frank), Eric Loren (Dalek Sec), Earl Perkins (Man #1), Barnaby Edwards (Dalek Operator), Nicholas Pegg (Dalek Operator), Anthony Spargo (Dalek Operator), David Hankinson (Dalek Operator), Nick Briggs (Dalek voices), Paul Kasey (Hero Pig), Ian Porter (Hybrid)

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green