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Season 08 SG-1 Stargate

Moebius Part 2

Stargate SG-1O’Neill commands the first flight of the timeship through a stargate located in Antarctica thanks to runes deciphered by Daniel. Despite General Hammond’s grave misgivings, Daniel and Carter accompany O’Neill’s team on a mission to find and recruit the alien called Teal’c. But on the planet where they find Teal’c, Daniel is interrogated and then released. Teal’c does find appeal in the idea of freeing the Jaffa from Goa’uld “gods” like Ra, and helps O’Neill’s team escape. But as the now-completed team returns to the timeship, Teal’c suddenly shoots Daniel, claiming that he’s been infested with a Goa’uld – and that with the knowledge extracted from Daniel’s mind, the Goa’uld will now be targeting Earth for an attack that, in this timeline, it can’t repel. O’Neill decides to risk it all to go back 5,000 years and complete SG-1’s original mission – even though he barely knows how to pilot the timeship, let alone change the course of history.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Robert C. Cooper
story by Jospeh Mallozzi & Paul Mullie & Brad Wright & Robert C. Cooper
directed by Peter Deluise
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: David Hewlett (Dr. Rodney McKay), Don S. Davis (General Hammond), Peter Williams (Apophis), Alessandro Juliani (Katep), Jay Acovone (Major Kawalsky), Benjamin Easterday (Ra’s Jaffa Commander), Sina Najafi (Egyptian Boy), Christopher Pearce (Bosworth), Rob Fournier (Airman Mansfield)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 1 Stargate Stargate Atlantis

The Siege Part II

Stargate AtlantisThe stargate activates, bringing much-needed help from Earth in the form of a heavily-armed Marine unit hand-picked by General O’Neill. Colonel Everett is assigned to take over from Dr. Weir, a move that surprises both Weir and Sheppard. But Everett’s plan – to defend Atlantis at all costs until further backup can arrive in the form of the SGC’s starship Daedalus – is just audacious enough to work, if he can overcome the Atlantis team’s reluctance to obey his orders. Even after Everett’s first line of new defenses falls to the Wraith advance, a fierce battle ensues and the added weapons help to turn the tide, but the fight isn’t over yet. The hive ships are still approaching, the city’s sensors have been damaged, and worse yet, Teyla senses Wraith inside the city. With Everett’s supply of nukes destroyed in the advance attack, Dr. Weir takes a chance on trying to open talks with the Genii to use some of their nuclear weapons. But the Genii take Weir hostage when she comes to negotiate; they decide to use her life as a bargaining chip to extort more weapons technology from the Atlantis expedition…and if Atlantis falls before Weir can agree, so much the better.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie
directed by Martin Wood
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Clayton Landey (Colonel Everett), Paul McGillion (Dr. Beckett), David Nykl (Dr. Zelenka), Chris Britton (Prenum), David Orth (Radner), James Lafaznos (Wraith), Chuck Campbell (Technician)

Notes: This episode was dedicated to Bob Scarabelli, the founder, president and CEO of Rainmaker Entertainment Group, the digital effects house that handles the special effects workload of both Atlantis and SG-1.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Clone Wars Star Wars Tartakovsky Series, Vol. 2

Chapter 25

Star Wars: Clone WarsThe Jedi fight an all out battle to protect Palpatine – but Grievous and his droid bodyguards are too powerful and too numerous. Anakin frees the captured Nelvaanian warriors and exacts vengeance against the Techno-Guild scientists. After their mission is completed, Mace summons them back to Coruscant, as the battle continues . . .

Order the DVDsstory by Bryan Andrew, Darrick Bachman, Paul Rudish and Genndy Tartakovsky
directed by Genndy Tartakovsky
original music by John Williams
new music by James L. Venable and Paul Dinletir

Notes: The events of Clone Wars: Volume II are meant to lead directly into Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Anakin’s knighting, the beginning of the Battle of Coruscant and Palpatine’s kidnapping are also recounted in the prose novel “Labyrinth Of Evil.” Those attempting to reconcile these two accounts are advised to stock up on the headache medication of their choice.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Battlestar Galactica (New Series) Season 1

Kobol’s Last Gleaming – Part 2

Battlestar GalacticaCommander Adama calls for President Roslin’s resignation over the secret orders that sent Starbuck to Caprica, based on nothing more than ancient prophecies. When the President refuses to step down, Colonel Tigh and Apollo are assigned to lead a strike team to remove her from power. Starbuck arrives at Caprica, and lands safely near the museum where the artifact is kept, and finds herself fighting for her life against one of the copies of Number Six. Helo, with his captive copy of Boomer still in tow, finds Starbuck just as the battle ends. When Starbuck tries to kill Boomer, Helo stops her – this Boomer Cylon is apparently biologically compatible enough with humans to be pregnant with Helo’s child. Adama assigns the clone of Boomer aboard Galactica to pick up where Starbuck left off, commanding what could be a suicide mission take out the Cylon base ship orbiting Kobol and keeping a downed Raptor crew – including Baltar – trapped on the planet. Even if this Boomer is able to overcome her Cylon programming enough to carry out those orders, she may return to Galactica with a new, and equally destructive, mission to carry out.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodeteleplay by Ronald D. Moore
story by David Eick
directed by Michael Rymer
music by Bear McCreary

Guest Cast: Michael Hogan (Colonel Tigh), Aaron Douglas (CPO Tyrol), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Kandyse McClure (Dualla), Paul Campbell (Billy Keikeya), Alessandro Juliani (Lt. Gaeta), Sam Witwer (Lt. Crashdown), Lorena Gale (Priest Elosha), Alonso Oyarzun (Socinus), Nicki Clyne (Cally), Jim Shield (Karma), Warren Christie (Ground Crew #1), Jen Halley (Ground Crew #2), Leah Cairns (Racetrack)

Original UK Airdate: January 24, 2005

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Enterprise Season 04 Star Trek

These Are The Voyages…

Star Trek: EnterpriseCaptain Archer is nervously preparing his speech for the ceremony marking the ratification of a full alliance between Earth, Andoria, Vulcan, the Tellarites and many other worlds. It has now been ten years since the Enterprise originally left spacedock, and after the ceremony, the ship is headed for its own final frontier – decommissioning. But Archer and his crew unexpectedly heed one last call to adventure when their old ally Shran, an Andorian commander who everyone believes to have died three years ago, contacts them. His daughter has been abducted by some shady business associates he accumulated after falling out of favor with the Andorian Imperial Guard, and he’s calling in old favors to rescue her. Despite protests from his crew about everything from the timing of this mission to his own personal safety, Archer is confident that the Enterprise crew can rescue Shran’s daughter without incident. Unfortunately, Archer has miscalculated, and the entire future of the United Federation of Planets is in peril unless a member of his crew makes a supreme sacrifice to save his captain. And in the future, struggling with an ethical dilemma precipitated by the reappearance of his own first commanding officer, Commander William T. Riker watches these decisive moments play out on a future Enterprise’s holodeck.

Order DVDswritten by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
directed by Allan Kroeker
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Jonathan Frakes (Commander William Riker), Marina Sirtis (Counselor Deanna Troi), Jeffrey Combs (Shran), Jonathan Schmock (Alien), Solomon Burke Jr. (Ensign), Jef Ayres (Med Tech), Jasmine Anthony (Talla), Brent Spiner (voice of Lt. Commander Data), Majel Barrett (Computer voice), Mike Fincke (Engineer), Terry Virts (Engineer)

Notes: The script for These Are The Voyages… was actually written by executive producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga a year before the episode was produced and broadcast; in the event that the show had gotten cancelled before its fourth season, they considered it a fitting end for the series. The voices of William Shatner and Patrick Stewart were lifted from the introductions those actors recorded during the original broadcast run of Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Two of the engineers working with Trip aboard the Enterprise were real-life astronauts: International Space Station veteran Mike Fincke and Terry Virts. Fincke reportedly kept up his Enterprise viewing habit even during his months in orbit.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Radio Series

Episode 22 (Fit The Twenty-Second)

Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy: Quandary PhaseUpon returning from a bizarre meeting with a man named Wonko the Sane in California, Arthur and Fenchurch find that they have company when they get home – Ford Prefect has returned to Earth. As reluctant as Arthur is to give up the Earth again, he and Fenchurch both realize that they no longer fit in, and set off to see God’s Final Message to His Creations. Ford, in his purloined alien spacecraft (which created quite a stir in London), drops them off, and a chance encounter not only reveals the message, but the final words of Marvin the paranoid android. But it may turn out to be both the first and last time that Arthur and Fenchurch hitch a ride across the galaxy together.

Order this CDwritten by Douglas Adams
adapted by Dirk Maggs from the novel “So Long And Thanks For All The Fish”
directed by Dirk Maggs
music by Paul “Wix” Wickens

Cast: William Franklyn (The Voice of the Book), Simon Jones (Arthur Dent), Geoffrey McGivern (Ford Prefect), Bill Paterson (Rob McKenna), Jane Horrocks (Fenchurch), Sandra Dickinson (Tricia McMillian), Stephen Moore (Marvin), Bob Golding (The Majestic Vantrashell), Alison Pettitt (Stewardess), Brian Cobby (Speaking Clock), Nick Clarke (himself), Charlotte Green (herself), Peter Donaldson (himself), Sir Patrick Moore (himself)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Doctor Who New Series Season 01

The Parting Of The Ways

Doctor WhoWith the help of the terrified (and mostly unarmed) broadcasters and civilians of Satellite 5, the Doctor and Jack mount what appears to be a frontal attack on the Dalek command saucer via the TARDIS, but then the Doctor feigns the TARDIS’ destruction from a Dalek missile attack and materializes in the heart of the Daleks’ command center, saving Rose. With the TARDIS projecting a shield around him, the Doctor emerges and finds that the Daleks have recovered their Emperor – an enormous mastermind Dalek the Doctor thought he had destroyed in the final battle of the Time War. The damaged Emperor escaped the carnage, however, and rebuilt the Dalek race – using dead humans as a replacement for now-extinct Kaled mutants. The Emperor has also risen to prophetic heights of megalomania, declaring itself the god of the Daleks and vowing to attack Earth and turn its population into billions more Daleks. The Doctor vows to stop the Emperor at any cost, though he discovers that the cost is horrific: his own defense could destroy humanity as thoroughly as the Daleks will.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Russell T. Davies
directed by Joe Ahearne
music by Murray Gold

Guest Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack), Jo Joyner (Lynda), Paterson Joseph (Rodrick), Nisha Nayar (Female Programmer), Noel Clarke (Mickey), Camille Coduri (Jackie), Anne Robinson (voice of Anne Droid), Nicholas Briggs (Dalek voices), Barnaby Edwards (Dalek operator), Nicholas Pegg (Dalek operator), David Hankinson (Dalek operator), Alan Ruscoe (Android), David Tennant (The Doctor)

Reviews by Philip R. Frey & Earl Green
LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Radio Series

Episode 26 (Fit The Twenty-Sixth)

Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy: Quintessential PhaseFord arrives on Lamuella, is promptly brained by Arthur’s daughter Random (who then steals his ship), and finds himself stranded with the sandwich maker. Ford had intended to contain the prototype of the new Hitchhiker’s Guide by sending it to Arthur’s backwater planet, and is dismayed to find that the new Guide is now guiding Random’s actions. Ford reveals that the new Guide operates across all dimensions and all planes of probability, and is using Random – just as it used him – to bring about the final destruction of Earth across every reality at the behest of the Vogons. Random pilots Ford’s ship to Earth, where Random starts looking for her mother but finds only the wrong Tricia MacMillan. When the Guide v2.0 fails to provoke Random’s more violent feelings, it leaves her high and dry. Ford and Arthur, despite being on a backwater planet, find a ship to take them to Earth. But as the new Guide brings its programmed plan to a conclusion, it turns out that Earth is a very, very unhealthy place for Arthur Dent to be.

Order this CDwritten by Douglas Adams
adapted by Dirk Maggs from the novel “Mostly Harmless”
directed by Dirk Maggs
music by Paul “Wix” Wickens

Cast: Peter Jones (The Voice of the Book), William Franklyn (The Voice of the Book), Rula Lenska (The Voice of the Bird), Simon Jones (Arthur Dent), Geoffrey McGivern (Ford Prefect), Mark Wing-Davey (Zaphod Beeblebrox), Susan Sheridan (Trillian), Sandra Dickinson (Tricia McMillan), Samantha Beart (Random), Stephen Moore (Marvin), Griff Rhys Jones (Old Thrashbarg), Roger Gregg (Bartender), Michael Cule (Vogon Helmsman), Dominic Hawksley (Thor), Andy Taylor (Grebulon Leader), Michael Fenton-Stevens (Grebulon Lieutenant), Philip Pope (Elvis), Tom Maggs (Runner), Bruce Hyman (Prosser), Don't PanicToby Longworth (Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz), Neil Sleat (Newsreader), Roy Hudd (Max Quordlepleen), Douglas Adams (Agrajag)

Notes: The conclusion of this episode, while it does indeed follow the fatalistic ending of the book “Mostly Harmless”, adds new material that allows several escape routes for Arthur and friends. Douglas Adams once again returns from the dead himself, again appearing as Agrajag in clips originally recorded for a book-on-tape.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Hyperdrive Season 1

Assessment

HyperdriveAs the crew is distracted by mandatory psychological assessment tests, the Camden Lock strays into contested space, where automatic defense systems wreak serious damage on Henderson’s ship. He is to submit to a Category “J” inspection in a week’s time, an inspection which has ended many a space captain’s career. Henderson retreats to his quarters and hands command over to York, who promises to have the ship running at peak efficiency before the inspector arrives, and demands unquestioning loyalty and obedience from the crew. The crew, however, has different ideas. In the meantime, pan-galactic beings are contacting Vine in his mind, offering knowledge beyond human comprehension.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Kevin Cecil & Andy Riley
directed by John Henderson
music by Mark Thomas

HyperdriveCast: Nick Frost (Henderson), Kevin Eldon (York / False York), Miranda Hart (Teal), Dan Antopolski (Jeffers), Stephen Evans (Vine), Petra Massey (Sandstrom), Paterson Joseph (Space Marshal), Wren Shepherd (Captain Helix), Stephanie Dooley (Beautiful Space Lady), Adam Payne (young Vine), Joe Marshall (Wade), Remi Wilson (Piretti), Chris Brailsford (Space Force Inspector), Sarah Solemani (Alien 1), Katy Brand (Alien 2), Morwenna Banks (Announcer), Maggie Service (Computer Voices), Ewan Bailey (Computer Voices)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Battlestar Galactica (New Series) Season 2

Lay Down Your Burdens – Part 2

Battlestar GalacticaAfter holding out during an intense attack, Starbuck and her Raptor crews, along with Anders’ resistance cell members, are stunned when the Cylons withdraw completely. All of the surviving Raptors return, with the surviving members of the Caprica resistance and an extra passenger, a priest named Brother Cavel. When these passengers arrive at Galactica, however, Chief Tyrol sounds the alarm – there’s already a Brother Cavel on Galactica, so they must both be Cylons. Cavel delivers a message to Admiral Adama and President Roslin: the Cylons have had a change of heart and abandoned their occupation of Caprica, and will pursue the fleet no more. Roslin is still skeptical, but this revelation adds more fuel to the election-day fire that Baltar has ignited with the suggestion that the colonists settle on the recently-discovered planet. As the votes are tallied, some of Roslin’s allies try to ensure that the vote will swing toward her – but the manipulation is discovered, the votes are recounted, and Baltar is declared the winner. It’s a victory that, after mere months on “New Caprica,” the survivors of the Twelve Colonies may live to regret.

written by Anne Cofell Saunders and Mark Verheiden
directed by Michael Rymer
music by Bear McCreary

Guest Cast: Michael Hogan (Colonel Tigh), Aaron Douglas (CPO Tyrol), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Nicki Clyne (Cally), Allessandro Juliani (Lt. Gaeta), Kandyse McClure (Dualla), Richard Hatch (Tom Zarek), Michael Trucco (Anders), Callum Keith Rennie (Leoben Conoy), Kate Vernon (Ellen Tigh), Donnelly Rhodes (Dr. Cottle), Matthew Bennett (Doral), Rekha Sharma (Tory Foster), Dean Stockwell (Brother Cavel), Alisen Down (Jean Barclay), Erica Cerra (Maya), Winston Rekert (Priest), David Kaye (James McManus)

Notes: Portions of Tyrol’s speech as he incited the workers of New Caprica to strike were excerpted from a real speech delivered in 1964 by American political activist Mario Savio (1942-1996) at the University of California, Berkeley. A longer excerpt of the speech in its original context can be found here.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Doctor Who Sarah Jane Smith

Dreamland

Sarah Jane Smith: DreamlandOnce again, Sarah’s life is saved by Josh, though this time, in addition to killing the Keeper, he’s also killed Will Sullivan. Sarah puts as much distance between herself and Josh as she can, but he still tries to stay in touch with her, even showing up at Will’s funeral. Just when Sarah’s had about enough, Sir Donald Wakefield shows up too, inviting her to join him on the first passenger flight into space – a flight that will coincide with Earth passing through the tail of a comet that last approached the planet 500 years ago, a comet whose return now was predicted in the writings of Count Giuliano. Sir Donald also reveals that Josh is his son – and an operative of the pacifist chapter that follows Giuliano’s writings as prophecy. Sarah and Nat take Sir Donald up on the offer and are flown to the launch site – a place the rest of the world knows as Area 51. But while Sarah is undergoing training for her first visit to space since her travels with the Doctor, there’s a change of crew: Sir Donald’s cancer returns with a vengeance, and on his deathbed, he asks Josh to replace him on the flight. But once the passenger spaceship launches, something goes wrong. The pilot exposes himself as one of the Keeper’s last operatives, carrying out his mission to deliver Sarah to death’s door. Josh and the pilot exchange gunfire, damaging the controls in the process and leaving Sarah as the only survivor as the ship pushes into a higher orbit than it was designed for – and straight into the path of the comet.

Order this CDwritten by David Bishop
directed by John Ainsworth
music by Steve Foxon

Cast: Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Jeremy James (Josh), Sadie Miller (Nat), Shaun Ley (Newsreader), Jon Winberg (Kimmel), Toby Longworth (Mission Control), Patricia Leventon (Maude), Stephen Greif (Sir Donald Wakefield)

Notes: Again, this story ties into events in the televised Doctor Who story The Masque Of Mandragora. Recorded prior to the filming of the new series episode School Reunion, the second “season” of Sarah Jane Smith audio stories was also the last, since Elisabeth Sladen signed on to reprise the character on television in her own children’s TV spinoff series. Though Big Finish PR guru John Ainsworth has stated that School Reunion falls between the two seasons of Sarah audio stories, Sarah here tells Nat about the Doctor in the past tense, as though she hasn’t seen him again – making it easier to place School Reunion (and, of course, Sarah’s spinoff series) after both sets of audio stories. Of course, precisely how it fits anywhere would be much easier to determine if the character’s return to TV hadn’t interrupted the audio series in mid-cliffhanger…

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Lost Season 2

Live Together, Die Alone

LostFlashback: Desmond is released from prison and officially given a dishonorable discharge from the Scottish army. He is greeted by Charles Widmore, a wealthy businessman, who shows him two boxes. The first contains all the letters Desmond has written to his girlfriend Penelope during his imprisonment – letters which were never delivered. The second box contains a large sum of cash, an inducement for Desmond to go far away and never speak to Penelope – Widmore’s daughter – again. Desmond refuses, and some time later he decides to enter a boat race sponsored by Widmore in order to take some revenge. Inside an American coffee bar, he meets Libby, whose husband has just died. She offers Desmond her husband’s boat, and tells him to win. As Desmond trains, just before his encounter with Jack, Penelope drives up and confronts him. Desmond makes it clear that he still loves her, but that he has to do something to regain his honor first. The race goes poorly, and Desmond is lost at sea. Unconscious, he washes up on the island, and has blurry visions of a man in a hazmat suit pulling him off the beach.

He wakes up inside the hatch, where Kelvin Inman shows him the orientation film and welcomes him to life working for the Dharma Initiative. Inman uses a series of faked lockdowns to draw the blacklighted map on the blast doors using laundry detergent. One night, while drunk, he shows Desmond a lock that can be used to set off a self-destruct mechanism and eliminate the danger of the hatch once and for all. Inman refuses to let Desmond out of the hatch, but one day Desmond follows him. He discovers that Inman has been repairing his sailboat and preparing to escape the island. In a rage, Desmond tackles him; during the fight, he slams Inman’s head against the rocks and kills him. Desmond races back to the hatch, to see the countdown has reached zero and the terminal screen is full of the words “System Failure.” Eventually, Desmond enters the numbers, and considers that his life may be over. He opens a book by Dickens, which he’s been saving, and finds a note from Penelope. He settles in to life pushing the button, occasionally hearing strange noises coming from above him.

The Island: Jack, Sayid and Sawyer swim out to the sailboat only to discover a drunken Desmond. Despite setting sail and heading straight out to sea, Desmond finds himself stuck around the island. Sayid sees an opportunity in the boat – he will sail around the island, along with Jin and Sun, to the Others’ camp and signal Jack from a safe point, so that they might be able to gain an advantage. But Sayid stresses that Jack can not tell anyone in Michael’s party about what’s really going on, lest Michael become suspicious.

Locke and Desmond arrange a lockdown in order to get Eko away from the terminal, and then wait for the countdown to expire. Eko enlists Charlie’s help to blow open the blast doors. Charlie tries to arrange a peaceful resolution, but fails to stop Eko from blowing the charges – doing nothing to the blast doors, but injuring himself and Charlie in the process. As the countdown draws near its close, Desmond grows more anxious. When he examines the log that Locke brought from the other hatch, he realizes that the system failure from the day Inman died coincides with the day that Flight 815 crashed. He is convinced that they must press the button – but Locke destroys the terminal. Desmond knows he has only one chance – the destruct mechanism.

Jack and his party encounter a group of Others following them. After a brief skirmish, Jack can keep the truth in no longer. Hurley realizes that Michael killed Libby and Ana Lucia, and turns to leave. Jack asks him to stay with the group, promising them he has a plan. But Michael does not lead them to the camp, which Sayid has discovered is abandoned. Instead he leads them into a trap, and they are brought before the Others. Ms. Klugh releases Hurley, and tells him to let the rest of the castaways know not to follow. Henry, clearly the leader of the group, says he must live up to the deal that Ms. Klugh made, and gives Michael Walt and a boat to take them away from the island. That leaves Jack, Kate and Sawyer to ponder the future, while Charlie, Claire and the rest of the castaways do the same at the beach.

Order the DVDswritten by Carlton Cuse & Damon Lindelof
directed by Jack Bender
music by Michael Giacchino

Guest Cast: Malcolm David Kelley (Walt), Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond), Sam Anderson (Bernard), M.C. Gainey (Mr. Friendly), Michael Emerson (Henry Gale), Clancy Brown (Kelvin Inman), Tania Raymonde (Alex), April Grace (Ms. Klugh), Alan Dale (Charles Widmore), Stephen Page (Master Sergeant), Michael Bowen (Pickett), Sonya Walger (Penelope), Len Cordova (Man no. 1), Alex Petrovitch (Man no. 2), Eyal Podell (Young Man), Cathy Foy (Receptionist)

Notes: Originally aired as a two-hour episode, this is considered episodes 223 and 224. Inman last appeared as the American officer who enlisted Sayid’s help in interrogating his superior officer in this season’s One of Them, although in that episode the character is listed as “Joe” Inman. Desmond’s first encounter with most of the castaways occurred in the first three episodes of this season; his meeting with Jack at the stadium was shown in the season-opener Man of Science, Man of Faith.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Big Finish Spinoffs Doctor Who Gallifrey The Audio Dramas

Imperiatrix

Gallifrey: ImperiatrxiLeela receives news that Andred has been found murdered in the chambers of the Chancellery Guard. Leela intends to claim the Sevateem right of vengeance, but Romana needs her friend to continue serving as the acting Castellan, not a bloodthirsty killer. That’s only the latest in a series of violent incidents, including a bombing of the Time Lord Academy, targeting the alien students. Inquisitor Darkel, now openly challenging Romana’s presidency, can’t resist suggesting to the Gallifreyan public that if Romana can’t ensure that the presence of aliens at the Academy can’t be maintained without violence, then the aliens should be sent home. Romana sets Leela and K-9 on the trail of the bombers, while also assigning Coordinator Narvin of the Celestial Intervention Agency to investigate. But what Romana doesn’t know is that Narvin is working with Darkel to secure the Inquisitor’s rise to the presidency. Romana continues to consult in secret with the being known as Pandora, but continues to insist that she won’t go down the path that Pandora says in inevitable. Leela’s K-9 finds evidence of another bomb at the Academy just before it explodes; Guard Commander Hallan closes the blast doors before K-9 or many of the alien students can escape. Romana raises Gallifrey’s defensive transduction barriers and puts the planets on a war footing. Darkel calls for a public, and openly broadcasted, debate in the High Council, and Romana agrees…but she has something in mind other than than the orchestrated open debate that Darkel is planning. And naturally, Romana only has the best interests of Gallifrey and the Time Lords at heart…even if that means that the freedom to disagree with her policies is about to become a thing of the past.

Order this CDwritten by Stewart Sheargold
directed by Gary Russell
music by David Darlington

Cast: Lalla Ward (President Romana), Louise Jameson (Leela), John Leeson (K-9), Lynda Bellingham (Candidate Darkel), Sean Carlsen (Coordinator Narvin), Michael Cuckson (Commander Hallan), Robin Sebastian (Commentator Antimon), Jenny Livsey (Student Galadina), Nicholas Briggs (Gold Usher), Daniel Hogarth (Nekkistani Ambassador), Conrad Westmaas (Nekkistani Emperor)

Notes: K-9 has worn the Coronet of Rassilon before, in the 1977 TV adventure The Invasion Of Time; that story also established the transduction barriers surrounding Gallifrey.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 1 Torchwood

End Of Days

TorchwoodThough he and Toshiko have returned safely to the present, Jack is furious with Owen for opening the rift, especially when people from throughout Earth’s history begin appearing, resulting in, among other things, a revival of the bubonic plague in the heart of Cardiff. Jack and Gwen go to pay Bilis Manger another visit, but he proves to be full of cryptic, less-than-helpful advice – until he shows Gwen a vision of what he claims is the future, in which she sees Rhys murdered. Gwen brings Rhys to the Torchwood Hub for his own safety, but another appearance by Bilis proves that no one is safe even there – and it is Bilis himself who fulfills the prophecy and kills Rhys just before vanishing again. One by one, the other members of Torchwood experience visions of long-lost loved ones, each urging them to open the rift again to save the world. Jack is the only one who doesn’t have an unsettling vision, but it’s already too late: the rest of his team is convinced that opening the rift will set things right, and Owen is willing to kill Jack to keep him from interfering. But when all hell breaks loose through the rift, who will save Torchwood – and the world – now?

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Chris Chibnall
directed by Ashley Way
music by Murray Gold & Ben Foster

Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Burn Gorman (Owen Harper), Naoko Mori (Toshiko Sato), Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Murray Melvin (Bilis), Tom Price (PC Andy), Caroline Chikezie (Lisa), Louise Delamere (Diane), Matthew Gravelle (Doctor), Noriko Aida (Toshiko’s Mother), Jamie Belton (Roman Soldier), Carrie Grace (Newsreader), Paul Kasey (Weevil), Rhian Wyn Jones (Religious Woman)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Primeval Season 1

Episode 6

PrimevalAnother string of deaths and disappearances is the first clue of another deadly predator from the anomaly, but this time Helen Cutter arrives to offer her help. This time, the team’s adversary is very different: it’s a highly-evolved hunter from the future, a revelation which startles Cutter, who assumed that all of the anomalies led to the distant past. Worse yet, it’s a hunter following the scent of a very specific prey – Helen herself – so her willingness to help is hardly a gesture of goodwill toward Cutter or his team. Cutter’s increasing attachment to Claudia also seems to irritate Helen, who strikes back with the revelation that she had a brief affair with Stephen even while she was married. It’s only when Cutter agrees to accompany Helen through the anomaly in an attempt to lead the predator back to its native time zone that he realizes it’s all another scheme of Helen’s. Cutter barely survives this trip to the past, and when he returns, he’s the only one who remembers a woman named Claudia Brown.

Order the SeriesDownload this episodewritten by Adrian Hodges
directed by Jamie Payne
music by Dominik Scherrer

PrimevalCast: Juliet Aubrey (Helen Cutter), Douglas Henshall (Nick Cutter), James Murray (Stephen Hart), Andrew-Lee Potts (Connor Temple), Hannah Spearritt (Abby Maitland), Ben Miller (Sir James Lester), Mark Wakeling (Captain Ryan), John Voce (Tim Parker)

Notes: Not just one, but two “Wilhelm screams” can be heard in the course of the bloody encounter with the future predator. The “future camp” was glimpsed, complete with the partly-unearthed skull of its unfortunate victim, in the series premiere.

LogBook entry by Earl Green