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Police Squad Season 1

The Butler Did It

Police SquadThe daughter of a wealthy businessman is kidnapped on her birthday, and Frank Drebin is there. Frank and Ed listen closely to the recording of the kidnappers’ demands, and find an excellent clue – the distinctively bloated and grumpy sounds of the tuba. (Though it could also be a ship’s horn.) When Police Squad tracks down the kidnapper, the ruthless crook fights back. And when someone opens fire on Police Squad, Police Squad looks for a hiding place as quickly as possible!

teleplay by Pat Proft
story by Deborah Hwang and Robert K. Weiss
directed by Georg Stanford Brown
music by Ira Newborn

Special Guest Star: Robert Goulet (as himself)

Guest Cast: Ed Williams (Mr. Olson), William Duell (Johnny), Peter Lupus (Norberg), Tommy LaSorda (himself), Nicolas Coster (Warner), Lilibet Stern (Terri), Byron Webster (Thames), Ken Michelman (Kingsley), Peter Elbing (Mime), K. Callan (Charlotte)

Alternate Title: A Bird In The Hand

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Police Squad Season 1

Revenge and Remorse

Police SquadA district judge’s courtroom is booby-trapped with a powerful bomb, and Frank Drebin is there. But Frank suspects that someone else was there, too – Eddie, a just-paroled felon convicted of similar bombings in the past. Eddie’s ex-wife Lana seems strangely disinterested in the possibility that Eddie’s up to his old tricks again, and she also doesn’t care about Frank and Ed’s investigation, though she has no qualms about pantsing them for charity. As it turns out, Eddie has a showgirl on the side, and has been violating his parole. But is he really the mad bomber, or just a slightly agitated bomber?

written by Nancy Steen and Neil Thompson
directed by Paul Krasny
music by Ira Newborn

Special Guest Star: William Shatner (as himself)

Guest Cast: Ed Williams (Mr. Olson), William Duell (Johnny), Peter Lupus (Norberg), Dr. Joyce Brothers (herself), Spence Milligan (Eddie), Bonnie Campbell Britton (Lana), K.T. O’Sullivan (Mimi)

Alternate Title: The Guilty Alibi

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Police Squad Season 1

Rendezvous at Big Gulch

Police SquadA mob “insurance” scam threatens several inner city businesses and residents, and Frank Drebin is there. After a dance instructor is beaten up, Frank and Norberg open their own shop, and sure enough, the thugs drop by to offer them insurance. When Frank rebuffs their threats, the criminals strike, and strike hard. Frank does, in fact, have the key to ending the crime wave – largely because he and Norberg have opened a key-making store.

teleplay by Nancy Steen and Neil Thompson
story by Pat Proft
directed by Reza S. Badiyi
music by Ira Newborn

Special Guest Star: Florence Henderson (as herself)

Guest Cast: Ed Williams (Mr. Olson), William Duell (Johnny), Peter Lupus (Norberg), Al Ruscio (Dutch), Robert Costanzo (Leo), John Ashton (Rocky), Connie Needham (Jill), Rebecca Holden (Stella)

Alternate Title: Terror In The Neighborhood

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Police Squad Season 1

Testimony of Evil

Police SquadA struggling comedian, who owes money to the owner of a nightclub, dies in a suspicious car crash, and Frank Drebin is there. But this was no ordinary comedian – he was also a police informant who infiltrated a drug ring which is believed to operate from that very same nightclub. Frank takes the place of the deceased at the nightclub, and he’s no ordinary comedian either. But will Frank succumb to the lure of the limelight, or will he crack the case?

written by Tino Insana and Robert Wuhl
directed by Joe Dante
music by Ira Newborn

Special Guest Star: William Conrad (himself)

Guest Cast: Ed Williams (Mr. Olson), William Duell (Johnny), Peter Lupus (Norberg), Dick Clark (himself), Dick Miller (Dick)

Alternate Title: Dead Men Don’t Laugh

Notes: This was the final episode of Police Squad on ABC.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Automan

Pilot

AutomanPolice officer Walter Nebicher is a danger to himself and others on the beat, so the chief of police puts him in the job best suited to him: running the department’s computers. Walter, still determined to fight crime in his own way, creates an artificial intelligence that manifests itself as a solid hologram – Automan, “the world’s first fully automatic man.” As long as he has sufficient power to draw upon, Automan can fight crime, starting with the mysterious disappearance of Lt. Jack Curtis, Walter’s friend and fellow officer who was following on a lead regarding shady activity at a private security company. Walter’s computer also points to the same company and its executives as a potential suspect, and he and Automan (and Automan’s tiny assistant Cursor, which can create vehicles for Automan on demand) set out to solve the mystery…but Automan must disappear to recharge when his power runs low, leaving Walter to improvised his way through tricky situations.

written by Glen A. Larson
directed by Lee H. Katzin
music by Stu Phillips / Automan Theme by Billy Hinsche and Stu Phillips

AutomanCast: Desi Arnaz Jr. (Walter Nebicher), Chuck Wagner (Automan), Heather McNair (Roxanne Caldwell), Gerald S. O’Loughlin (Capt. Boyd), Robert Lansing (Lt. Jack Curtis), Patrick Macnee (Lydell Hamilton), Steven Keats (Collins), Robert J. Hogan (Peterson), James Antonio Jr. (Cramer), Robert Dunlap (Chuck Wilson), Don Galloway (Martin Wills), Doug McClure (Det. Ted Smithers), Camilla Sparv (Tanya), Sid Haig (1st Gang Member), Mickey Jones (2nd Gang Member), Gloria LeRoy (Landlady), Herman Poppe (Swiss Guard), Carol Vogel (Joanne Wills), Dennis Fimple (The Taxi Driver), Kristina Hayden (Stewardess), Ed Hooks (Parking Attendant), Angela Lee (Wills Girl #1), Tricia Tomicic (Wills Girl #2)

AutomanNotes: Created by Glen A. Larson and obviously inspired by Disney’s heavily-promoted 1982 movie Tron, Automan takes the concept of a man from inside the computer world…and drops it into a buddy cop show. Without the budget for the manually-animated intricate body armor of Tron, Automan instead used a technique called front-axial projection, illuminating Chuck Wagner’s special reflective costume (and similarly reflective detailing tape on Automan’s various vehicles) with a powerful but narrowly focused light mounted to the camera itself. If Glen Larson had any visions of an Automan empire, they were quickly dashed – the show lasted less than one full season on ABC.

AutomanGuest star Patrick Macnee (1922-2015) was a frequent flier guest star on American TV, having established himself as the debonair star of the long-running, light-hearted British spy show The Avengers, which originally started out darker and featured Macnee’s character of Mr. Steed as its second banana. Sid Haig is also a mainstay of American genre TV, known best to science fiction fans as Dragos, self-styled Master of the Cosmos, the chief bad guy in the 1970s Filmation live-action series Jason Of Star Command. Automan mentions that Walter has programmed him to take sharp 90-degree turns – inspired by Tron‘s light cycles, but here chalked up to the 90-degree turns taken by video game characters such as Pac-Man and Donkey Kong.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Automan

Staying Alive While Running A High Flashdance Fever

AutomanWalter is riding along for a police operation targeting a powerful mob boss, but Captain Boyd leaves Walter at the side of the road (for his own safety) to continue the pursuit. Walter calls on Automan to help pursue the mob, but the trail leads somewhat paradoxically to the home of a powerful judge who has made a career out of putting the mob behind bars. Walter’s trail of evidence dead-ends because Automan naturally has to return to the digital world to recharge, leaving his human partner high and dry. New evidence arrives, leading Automan to Las Vegas…and possibly implicating the judge after all. Now Walter has to go to Vegas himself, and has to convince Lt. Curtis and Roxanne that he isn’t crazy for following this latest lead. And while he’s searching for clues among the Vegas nightlife, Automan takes on a smooth-dancing persona who proves popular with the ladies.

written by Glen A. Larson
directed by Winrich Kolbe
music by Stu Phillips / Automan Theme by Billy Hinsche and Stu Phillips

AutomanCast: Desi Arnaz Jr. (Walter Nebicher), Chuck Wagner (Automan), Heather McNair (Roxanne Caldwell), Gerald S. O’Loughlin (Capt. Boyd), Robert Lansing (Lt. Jack Curtis), Mary Crosby (Ellen Fowler), Don Gordon (Leonard Martin), Angela Aames (Bartender), Robert F. Lyons (Jason), William Windom (Judge Farnsworth), Jack Perkins (The Drunk), Jorge Cervera Jr. (Jackson), Jim Storm (The Driver), Bud Davis (Sieger), Gary Epper (Brandt)

AutomanNotes: Jack Sowards (1929-2007), co-writer of Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan and former writer for Bonanza and The Streets Of San Francisco, joins Automan as its executive story consultant, a function he also served on both of those shows as well as Falcon Crest. When Automan wants Walter to tell him what his astrological “sign” is, Walter replies “Tell them you’re an Apple II!” Songs heard in the background of the episode include Michael Sembello’s “Maniac”, Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”, and the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive”.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Automan

The Great Pretender

AutomanA violent hijacking leaves a man dead…and a truckload of the paper used to print money in the hands of a criminal organization. From behind his computer, Walter figures out who was behind the heist…but getting to that suspect through the layers of his enforcers and other henchmen will be a challenge. Automan proposes a solution: he will assume the guise of “Mr. Otto”, a rival crime boss, and begin stripping Brock’s supporters away from him until he’s exposed. It’s a brilliant plan that doesn’t take into account the fact that Automan’s only exposure to the criminal underworld comes from Walter’s collection of old gangster movies…

written by Sam Egan
directed by Kim Manners
music by Stu Phillips / Automan Theme by Billy Hinsche and Stu Phillips

AutomanCast: Desi Arnaz Jr. (Walter Nebicher), Chuck Wagner (Automan), Heather McNair (Roxanne Caldwell), Gerald S. O’Loughlin (Capt. Boyd), Robert Lansing (Lt. Jack Curtis), Clu Gulager (Brock), Michael Callan (Mayhew), Andrea Howard (Lauren Robinson), Ed Griffith (Laird), James Andronica (Parsons), Cliff Emmich (Zack), Paul Lambert (Robinson), Fil Formicola (Solt), Todd Martin (Gritch), William Long Jr. (Russo), Ken Sansom (The Minister), K.C. Winkler (The Blonde), Marc Vahanian (Carty), Richard Derr (Robinson), Barry Berman (Tate), Talbot Simons (The Taxi Driver)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Automan

Ships In The Night

AutomanThe mysterious disappearance of a local businessman during a trip to the tropical island of San Cristobal becomes Jack Curtis’ latest investigation, sending him to San Cristobal for leads. Walter and Automan discover clues that indicate the disappearance is part of a larger and deadlier pattern of crimes, and travel to San Cristobal to provide this information to Curtis, who is already working with local authorities. But not even Walter suspects that those authorities are not only corrupt, but deeply involved with the crimes…and Automan is too busy discovering the limbo to be of much help.

written by Parke Perine
directed by Bob Claver
music by Stu Phillips / Automan Theme by Billy Hinsche and Stu Phillips

AutomanCast: Desi Arnaz Jr. (Walter Nebicher), Chuck Wagner (Automan), Heather McNair (Roxanne Caldwell), Gerald S. O’Loughlin (Capt. Boyd), Robert Lansing (Lt. Jack Curtis), Scott Marlowe (Sawyer), France Nuyen (Liang Lu), Steve Hanks (Woody), Frank Aletter (James Dowling), Abraham Alvarez (Police Sergeant), Cesare Danova (Captain Romano), Javier Grajeda (The Desk Clerk), Branscombe Richmond (Johnson), Melanie Vincz (The Beautiful Girl), Bridget Sienna (The Croupier), Rick Garcia (The Bank Guard)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Star Wars TV Specials

Ewoks: Caravan of Courage (a.k.a. The Ewok Adventure)

Star WarsAn Ewok named Deej sets out on his primitive hang-glider to search for his two missing sons. He finds them stuck on a cliff and testily rescues them. On their way back to the Ewok village, Deej and his boys investigate a strange object Deej spotted from the air. It turns out to be a small space vehicle which appears to have no occupants. But when the inquisitive Ewoks look inside, they find a small human child. Moments after she is discovered, the young girl’s teenage brother bursts into the ship, trying to protect her, but the Ewoks overpower him and take both of them to their village. Cindel Towani, the girl, has fallen ill since her parents disappeared, and her brother Mace is powerless to help. The Ewoks nurse Cindel back to health, and now all the human children have to worry about is finding their missing parents, repairing their crashed ship, and going home. After the two children make a nearly-disastrous attempt to go it alone, Ewok medicine man Logray uses a little bit of Ewok magic to find where the human adults are…and the answer isn’t good. Mace and Cindel’s parents are being held by an enormous creature called the Gorax. Even though the Ewoks know how to reach the lair of the Gorax, none have ever returned from the monster’s clutches. Nevertheless, Logray decides that his tribe will help the marooned children rescue their parents. Mace, Cindel, Wicket, and the rest of the Ewoks set out on a treacherous journey across the third moon of Endor to challenge the Gorax…but when the time comes, Mace will have to defeat the Gorax alone.

Order the DVDsscreenplay by Bob Carrau
story by George Lucas
directed by John Korty
music by Peter Bernstein (Ewoks theme by John Williams)

Cast: Eric Walker (Mace Towani), Warwick Davis (Wicket), Fionnula Flanagan (Catarine Towani), Guy Boyd (Jeremitt Towani), Aubree Miller (Cindel Towani), Dan Frishman (Deej), Debbie Carrington (Weechee), Tony Cox (Widdle), Kevin Thompson (Chukla-Trok), Margarita Fernandez (Kalnk), Pam Grizz (Shodu), Bobby Bell (Logray), Burl Ives (Narrator)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Droids

The White Witch

DroidsDumped overboard with the cargo as their smuggler owner saves his own skin, Artoo and Threepio find themselves on a desert planet where two speeder racers happen to be practicing. The small-time racers, Jord Dusat and Thall Joban, pick up the droids. Dusat is particularly enthusiastic to have found an R2 unit, since they’ll need one to help pilot The White Witch, a speeder they’ve been customizing for the upcoming Boonta Race. But they’re not alone on this planet: a woman named Kea Moll is observing the racers and their new droids from a distance, and Tig Fromm, the heir to an interplanetary crime syndicate, intends to destroy Dusat and Joban before they can stumble across Fromm’s secret base of operations.

written by Peter Sauder
directed by Ken Stephenson
music by Patricia Cullen, David Greene and David W. Shaw
theme song by Stewart Copeland

DroidsVoice Cast: Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Peter MacNeill (Jord Dusat), Rob Cowan (Thall Joban), Lesleh Donaldson (Kea Moll), John Stocker (Vlix)

Notes: The Boonta Race is presumably related to the Boonta Eve pod race seen in Episode I (a movie which wouldn’t be made for another 14 years). With Tig Fromm’s mention of Jabba as a rival crime boss, it’s possible that the unidentified desert world is Tatooine (presumably Threepio wouldn’t recognize it as his memory was ordered wiped at the end of Episode III).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Droids Star Wars

Escape Into Terror

DroidsAt the secluded home of Kea Moll’s family, Thall and Jord continue to make much-needed repairs to their ship; Threepio and Artoo have to contend with the duties and responsibilities of Bantha farming. The droids stumble across a hidden chamber – the control room of a small, secret Rebel base. It’s only now that Kea reveals her sympathies to the rebellion, and the reason she’s been helping the two speeder racers. Sise Fromm’s criminal syndicate has built a powerful weapon called the Trigon One, and his son Tig Fromm’s blundering has given the Alliance a chance to obtain it.

written by Peter Sauder
directed by Ken Stephenson
music by Patricia Cullen, David Greene and David W. Shaw
theme song by Stewart Copeland

DroidsVoice Cast: Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Peter MacNeill (Jord Dusat), Rob Cowan (Thall Joban), Lesleh Donaldson (Kea Moll), John Stocker (Vlix)

Notes: The canon-bending unlikelihood of the droids starting out in Bail Organa’s possession at the end of Episode III, going through the animated series’ progression of owners, and returning to Organa’s service in time for the original trilogy becomes less unlikely if one considers the possibility that the droids were sent to Kea Moll’s family by fellow Rebel Organa in the first place…

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Droids Star Wars

The Trigon Unleashed

DroidsThall and Artoo set out to rendezvous with Jord and Kea’s mother, who have just hidden the Fromm gang’s Trigon battleship. But things don’t go as planned: the rendezvous never happens. Waiting at Kea Moll’s family compound, Threepio intercepts transmissions between Tig Fromm and Sise Fromm, revealing that the compound is surrounded by Fromm henchmen. Thall returns, having guessed that things have gone horribly wrong, to rescue Threepio and Kea, but their attempt to escape from the Fromm gang lands them in a trap. Sise Fromm has two hostages – Jord and Kea’s mother – and wants Thall to tell him where the Trigon is hidden. Even when this information is spilled, however, the droids are ahead of Fromm’s men.

Droidswritten by Richard Beban and Peter Sauder
directed by Ken Stephenson
music by Patricia Cullen, David Greene and David W. Shaw
theme song by Stewart Copeland

Voice Cast: Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Peter MacNeill (Jord Dusat), Rob Cowan (Thall Joban), Lesleh Donaldson (Kea Moll), John Stocker (Vlix)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Droids Star Wars

A Race To The Finish

DroidsThall and Jord, with Kea Moll and the droids in tow, are well on their way to the Boonta Speeder Race when their ship is attacked. The ship pursuing them, however, has limited speed and weapons – the best that Sise Fromm and the remnants of his crime gang can afford after the costly loss of the Trigon. Thall and Jord escape, so Sise Fromm calls in a favor from a bounty hunter: he wants the speeder racers and their friends captured and brought to him. The bounty hunter who owes him a favor is Boba Fett.

written by Richard Beban and Peter Sauder
directed by Ken Stephenson
music by Patricia Cullen, David Greene and David W. Shaw
theme song by Stewart Copeland

Voice Cast: Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Dan Hennessey (Jord Dusat), Rob DroidsCowan (Thall Joban), Lesleh Donaldson (Kea Moll), Don Francks (Boba Fett), Graeme Campbell (Proto One) John Stocker (Vlix), Winston Rekert (Sise Fromm)

Notes: Droids is divided up into three serialized stories showing Artoo and Threepio working for different masters, and this episode concludes what is essentially a four-part story detailing their service to Thall Joben and friends. Boba Fett is the first original series character other than the droids to appear in the series, and it’s a bit of a homecoming for the bounty hunter: his first appearance was in an animated segment of the Star Wars Holiday Special, and that segment – like the Droids series – was produced by Canadian animation studio Nelvana. Threepio claims that he and BL-17 “graduated from the same production facility,” though it may be a fabrication on the part of BL-17 (a droid taking orders from Boba Fett) to gain Threepio’s trust. If one is trying to work Droids into the continuity of the years between the prequel and original trilogies, Threepio has already had his mind wiped at Bail Organa’s instruction, and whatever “production facility” he might be remembering may be a fabrication planted during that memory wipe to prevent Threepio from remembering that he was constructed by Anakin Skywalker.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Droids Star Wars

The Lost Prince

DroidsThreepio and Artoo find work at a diner, though they’re not ideally suited to work as servers and find themselves unemployed again in record time, though not before they overhear word that bounty hunter IG-88 is on the trail of someone nearby. Threepio and Artoo are auctioned off, with another dilapidated droid, to a new master, Jann Tosh, to help with his Uncle Gundy’s mining operation. But the third droid isn’t a droid – it’s a living being incapable of speech, but, after eating a king-sized breakfast, is more than capable of working in the mines. But who is this new worker, and why are other parties dangerously interested in him?

Droidswritten by Richard Beban and Peter Sauder
directed by Ken Stephenson
music by Patricia Cullen, David Greene and David W. Shaw
theme song by Stewart Copeland

Voice Cast: Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Don Francks (Jann Tosh), Dan Hennessey (Uncle Gundy / Yorpa / Vinga / Jyn Obah), Taborah Johnson (Jessica Meade), Michel LeFebvre (Mon Julpa), John Stocker (Sollag)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Droids Star Wars

The New King

DroidsJann Tosh and the droids flee the mining planet, trying to return Mon Julpa to high rightful place on the throne of the planet Tamuzan; they discover that their pilot is none other than Jessica Meade, making this the second time she has saved their skins. But they’re being followed by a bounty hunter: IG-88 is in pursuit. On Tamuzan itself, they’re no safer – in Mon Julpa’s absence, a struggle for power has broken out, with rivals vying for the throne. Artoo and Threepio may have to stage a coup of their own to ensure that Mon Julpa is crowned as Tamuzan’s king.

Droidswritten by Richard Beban and Peter Sauder
directed by Ken Stephenson
music by Patricia Cullen, David Greene and David W. Shaw
theme song by Stewart Copeland

Voice Cast: Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Don Francks (Jann Tosh), Dan Hennessey (Uncle Gundy / Yorpa / Vinga / Jyn Obah), Taborah Johnson (Jessica Meade), Michel LeFebvre (Mon Julpa), John Stocker (Sollag)

Notes: Mon Julpa’s rival for the throne is given a voice performance that sounds uncannily like the voice of Saw Gererra.

LogBook entry by Earl Green