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Deep Space Nine Season 07 Star Trek

What You Leave Behind

Star Trek: Deep Space NineStardate 52947.9: The final assault of the Alpha Quadrant allies against the Dominion begins, as the uprising on Cardassia grows. However, Damar and his people pay a heavy price when the Jem’Hadar begin destroying Cardassian cities and exterminating the population. Damar, Kira, and Garak are captured, but saved from execution by fellow revolutionaries. Damar is killed in the effort to storm Dominion headquarters, and Kira and Garak manage to seize control, killing the eighth and last Weyoun in the process, and taking the Female Changeling prisoner. Meanwhile, the tide of the space battle turns when the Cardassian ships begin firing on their erstwhile Dominion allies.

The final end of the war comes when Odo joins Kira and Garak, and links with the Female Changeling, curing her and obtaining her agreement to sign a peace treaty and be tried for her crimes. In exchange, Odo promises to rejoin the Great Link and heal his people, hoping that in time he can teach them to reconcile with the solids.

On Bajor, Dukat, whose sight has returned, has entered the Fire Caves with Winn to release the pagh-wraiths. Winn poisons him as a sacrificial offering, but the wraiths bypass her and possess Dukat’s body instead. Sisko instinctively realizes what is happening and races to the Fire Caves, where in their struggle, he and Dukat fall into the fire, destroying the Text of the Kosst Amojan and sealing the pagh-wraiths in their prison forever. Sisko awakens in the Celestial Temple, where the Prophets tell him that his work is now complete, and that he is now one of them. Kasidy receives a vision from her husband, bidding her goodbye, and promising to return.

Many other goodbyes are exchanged. Garak faces a bittersweet end to his exile. Worf is appointed Federation ambassador to Qo’Nos, and O’Brien leaves to teach engineering at Starfleet Academy. Odo and Kira part on the shores of the Great Link. However, Quark is still serving drinks and making deals at his bar, and Morn still resides on his stool. Bashir and Ezri also remain on the station, as do Nog and Kasidy. And together, Kira and Jake keep watch on the wormhole…

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Ira Steven Behr & Hans Beimler
directed by Allan Kroeker
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: Rosalind Chao (Keiko), Jeffrey Combs (Weyoun), Salome Jens (Female Shapeshifter), Penny Johnson (Kasidy Yates), Andrew J. Robinson (Garak), Casey Biggs (Damar), Marc Alaimo (Gul Dukat), Aron Eisenberg (Nog), J.G. Hertzler (Martok), Barry Jenner (Admiral Ross), Deborah Lacey (Sarah), Julianna McCarthy (Mila), Hana Hatae (Molly), James Darren (Vic Fontaine), Louise Fletcher (Kai Winn), Mel Johnson, Jr. (Broca), Greg Ellis (Ekoor), Cyndi Pass (Ginger), Kevin Scott Allen (Jem’Hadar), Christopher Halsted (Jem’Hadar First), Judi Durand (Cardassian Computer Voice)

LogBook entry by Tracy Hemenover

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Babylon 5 / Crusade Spinoff: Crusade

Each Night I Dream Of Home

CrusadeGideon is most annoyed when a member of the Earth Senate commandeers the Excalibur for a high-security mission (about which its crew is told nothing). He’s even more mystified when Senator Redway’s enigmatic mission takes the Excalibur back to Earth, and instead of an aide, the Senator has his plumber in tow. Stopping just long enough to rescue a heavily damaged Starfury piloted by Captain Lochley, Excalibur arrives safely at Earth, where a shuttle on autopilot is launched from the Earth, releases a sterile life pod, and is destroyed. The pod is opened under heavy quarantine, and its occupant is none other than Dr. Stephen Franklin, head of xenobiological research for the Earth Alliance, the lead researcher tackling the problem of the plague – and a carrier of the deadly virus. For Franklin to study the Drakh virus closely, he must take readings as it infects a new victim. Senator Redway’s plumber, whose fiancee is trapped on Earth, has volunteered to be infected so he may return home for his wedding. Eager to break the news to his intended, Mr. Williams breaks radio silence and contacts her on Earth…but when the Drakh intercept the transmission, they realize that it must be part of the search for a cure, and they set out to destroy the Excalibur once and for all.

Order the DVDswritten by J. Michael Straczynski
directed by Stephen Furst
music by Evan H. Chen

Cast: Gary Cole (Captain Matthew Gideon), Tracy Scoggins (Captain Elizabeth Lochley), Daniel Dae Kim (Lt. Matheson), Carrie Dobro (Dureena Nafeel), David Allen Brooks (Max Eilerson), Marjean Holden (Dr. Sarah Chambers), Peter Woodward (Galen), Richard Biggs (Dr. Stephen Franklin), Lance Le Gault (Senator Redway), Timothy Williams (David Williams), Liz Lavoie (Carole Miles), Carl Reggiardo (Drakh)

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Season 07 Star Trek Voyager

Endgame

Star Trek: VoyagerStardate not given: Voyager’s sensors detect a possible high concentration of wormholes inside a dense nebula, and Captain Janeway decides to investigate. A near-collision with a Borg cube – obscured from sensors by the nebula’s gases – changes her mind quickly, and Voyager retreats. A temporal rift forms near the ship, and a Starfleet shuttlecraft with armaments decades ahead of Voyager’s own emerges, piloted by a woman who claims to be Janeway from sixteen years in the future. The elder Janeway outlines a daring plan to get the ship home ahead of schedule, using the weapons and armor technology of her shuttle to hold the Borg at bay. Voyager returns to the nebula, where the crew finds one of the Collective’s huge transwarp stations, a nexus point of conduits that lead to every quadrant of the galaxy. Even though there’s a high likelihood that one of those transwarp conduits could take Voyager back home, Captain Janeway orders a retreat over her older self’s protests. The captain sees this as an opportunity to deny the Borg the means to launch future attacks on the Alpha Quadrant – which could leave Voyager stranded in the Delta Quadrant for years to come.

Stardate not given: On the ten-year anniversary of the starship Voyager’s return to Earth, Admiral Kathryn Janeway looks back bitterly at the tragic costs of the 23-year journey – the death of Seven of Nine, and the effect that death had upon the former Borg’s husband, Commander Chakotay. A reunion of the surviving crew does little to lift the Admiral’s spirits; the Doctor has married, Tom and B’Elanna’s daughter is now a Starfleet officer, Harry Kim is now the captain of the U.S.S. Rhode Island, and Tuvok languishes in a mental institution, his mind wasted away by a neurological condition that could have been corrected had Voyager returned to the Alpha Quadrant sooner. Admiral Janeway decides to make a risky trip back in time to change history and speed her crew home.

Order the DVDsteleplay by Kenneth Biller & Robert Doherty
story by Rick Berman, Kenneth Biller & Brannon Braga
directed by Allan Kroeker
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: Dwight Schultz (Barclay), Richard Herd (Admiral Paris), Alice Krige (Borg Queen), Vaughn Armstrong (Korath), Manu Intiraymi (Icheb), Lisa Locicero (Miral Paris), Miguel Perez (Physician), Grant Garrison (Cadet), Ashley Sierra Hughes (Sabrina), Matthew James Williamson (Klingon), Richard Sarstedt (Starfleet Admiral), Joey Sakata (Engineering Officer), Iris Bahr (Female Cadet)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 6 Xena: Warrior Princess

A Friend In Need – Part 2

Xena: Warrior PrincessXena sends Gabrielle and Kenji off to find Mirimoto’s archers, who are gathering nearby, while she heads off alone in the opposite direction. When Gabrielle reaches the area where the archers are supposed to be, she finds that no one else is around. She starts thinking about what Xena has said and done over the past few hours since they arrived in Higuchi. Afraid of what is about to happen to the warrior, Gabrielle sets off at a run after her friend.

Order the DVDsteleplay by R.J. Stewart
story by Robert Tapert & R.J. Stewart
directed by Robert Tapert
music by Joseph LoDuca

Guest Cast: Mac Jeffery Ong (Kenji), Michelle Ang (Akemi), Kazuhiro Muroyama (Harukata), Adrian Brown (Yidoshi), Venant Wong (Mirimoto)

Original title: Japan Part 2

LogBook entry by Mary Terrell

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Season 2 Witchblade

Ubique

WitchbladePezzini awakens from a nightmare about dying at the hands of a younger woman wielding the Witchblade, but when she awakens, she discovers that the bracelet truly is gone from her wrist. At the same time, it seems that a blood-dimmed tide is loosed upon the world as a relentless global wave of unusual murders begins. Without the Witchblade to help her see past the barrier of death, Pezzini is helpless to get to the heart of these crimes. She still manages to find one amazing coincidence, however – every one of the murderers recently visited a web site called “CyberFaust” just before the killing spree began. But when Pezzini, Danny and McCarty view the site at the precinct, it delivers the message that Pezzini is responsible for the murder of Kenneth Irons. Pezzini and Gabriel look at the site, and discover that Irons is very much alive – and he is responsible for both the wave of deaths and the woman who now wields the Witchblade in the name of vengeance.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Richard C. Okie & Ralph Hemecker
directed by Bradford May
music by Joel Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Kate Levering (Lucrezia), Kim de Lury (Conchobar), Kathryn Winslow (Vicki), Megan Fahbinock (Wife), John Chesburn (Captain), Jason Jazakov (John #1), ? (John #2), ? (John #3), ? (Old Man), ? (Husband), Grace Slick (voice of the Witchlade), and Lazar

Notes: Continuing the series’ long-running fascination with classic rock music, the Witchblade finally gains her own voice here, and fittingly enough it speaks in the voice of Jefferson Airplane vocalist Grace Slick. Ironically, Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit is heard playing in the background of Gabriel’s office in one scene.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Jeremiah Season 2

Interregnum Part 2

JeremiahOn the eve of battle, Sims finds himself troubled by Marcus’ announcement that Daniel doesn’t exist, but presses forward with preparations for the final battle anyway. Smith is discovered by one of the women running the children’s home, who gets him to safety, and he’s able to inform Kurdy of Sims’ movements. Armed with that information, Jeremiah sets out to settle the score once and for all, to kill Sims himself. At Thunder Mountain, one of Sims’ infiltrators is captured, and Marcus is able to avert the takeover of the base. When Jeremiah catches up with Sims, he discovers that the seed of distrust has already been planted, and that Sims is already questioning the existence of Daniel. But is that enough for Jeremiah to spare his life and possibly stop the war before the first battle is fought?

Order the DVDswritten by J. Michael Straczynski
directed by Mike Vejar
music by Tim Truman

Guest Cast: Peter Stebbings (Marcus), Ingrid Kavelaars (Erin), Byron Lawson (Lee Chen), Michael Teigen (Frank), Donna White (Hannah), Enid-Raye Adams (Gina), John Pyper-Ferguson (Sims), Rik Kiviaho (Sim’s Lieutenant), Larry Musser (Warren), Chris Lovick (Fifth Column Recruit), Matthew MacCaull (Guard), Jessica Amlee (Rose)

Notes: This was the final episode of Jeremiah, which was cancelled by MGM despite efforts to regroup the creative team after the departure of J. Michael Straczynski, who left in a dispute with the studio (and openly said he would never work with MGM again). The airdates for the latter half of the season season are taken from the episodes’ world premiere dates in Canada, where the entire season was aired in order on a weekly basis with no interruptions. In the U.S., the Showtime network buried the final episodes, airing them back-to-back in the wee hours of weekend mornings, with virtually no promotion to draw attention to the lame duck show’s return after months off the air.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Farscape The Miniseries

The Peacekeeper Wars Part 2

FarscapeSikozu ignites the gas to begin the group’s escape, while a group of Luxan commandos led by Jothee – and with the advantage of modern stealth technology – picks up D’Argo and Chiana and launches an attack on the Scarran ship. During the escape, Crichton manages to transfer the fetus, successfully making Aeryn pregnant for the second time with the same child. On their way back to the water planet, Crichton concludes he’s out of options and takes the module to meet Einstein once more. This time, he wants all the restraints removed . . . now, he wants to know the secrets of wormhole weapons. Einstein agrees that it is time, even as he reminds Crichton that eventually, time ends.

On the water planet, Braca’s troops have tried to defend against Charrid attackers, but many of the Eidolon descendants have been killed. A small number remain, however, maybe even enough to do some good – if they can survive long enough. Stark transfers the ancient Eidolon’s knowledge to the leader of the surviving group. The Luxans and Moya’s crew prepare to join in the defense, and in the middle of the battle, Crichton and Aeryn’s child reveals he’s inherited his parents’ sense of timing. Mother and father finally say “I do” moments before baby makes three. The retreat from the water planet is not a bloodless one, as Scorpius discovers the identity of the Scarran spy and another of Moya’s crew perishes to ensure the others’ escape. Back on Moya, caught between the Scarrans and a Peacekeeper fleet led by Grayza, Crichton realizes the moment of truth has come: it is time to risk everything for one last opportunity for peace.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxwritten by David Kemper and Rockne S. O’Bannon
directed by Brian Henson
music by Guy Gross

Cast: Ben Browder (Commander John Crichton), Claudia Black (Officer Aeryn Sun), Anthony Simco (Ka D’Argo), Gigi Edgley (Chiana), Wayne Pygram (Scorpius), Lani Tupu (voice of Pilot), Paul Goddard (Stark), David Franklin (Captain Braca), Tammy McIntosh (Jool), Raelee Hill (Sikozu), Melissa Jaffer (Noranti), Rebecca Riggs (Commandant Grayza), Francesca Buller (Ahkna), Matt Newton (Jothee), Duncan Young (Staleek), John Bach (Einstein)

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Space Odyssey: Voyage To The Planets

Part Two

Space Odyssey: Voyage To The PlanetsThe Jovian system proves to be a nearly insurmountable challenge for the Pegasus crew, as they endure more gravitational pull from Jupiter than anticipated by the engineers who designed the trajectory. Furthermore, a manned landing on Io nearly proves disastrous, and all the surface samples collected must be abandoned to save lives. An unmanned lander is sent to Europa before Pegasus departs for Saturn.

The most eagerly anticipated part of the Saturn flyby is another unmanned probe, this time dispatched to Titan, but its electrical systems fail prior to landing, and no samples are returned. But the worst setback at Saturn is the death of astronaut John Pearson from cancer caused by solar radiation exposure. Despite this tragic loss, the crew opts to extend their tour by three years to become the first humans to walk on Pluto. Their visit to a comet on its way back toward the sun is less successful, nearly destroying both Pegasus and its crew. If the surviving crew can repair the damage to the ship, there’s one last planetary stop on the mission plan: Earth.

written by Joe Ahearne
directed by Joe Ahearne
music by Don Davis

Voyage To The PlanetsCast: Martin McDougall (Tom Kirby), Rad Lazar (Yvan Grigorev), Joanne McQuinn (Zoë Lassard), Mark Dexter (John Pearson), Michelle Joseph (Nina Sulman), Mark Tandy (Alex Lloyd), Helene Mahieu (Claire Grainer), Colin Stinton (Flight Director), John Schwab (CAPCOM), Lourdes Faberes (FIDO), David Suchet (Narrator)

Notes: “Technical sets” were provided by Brick Price’s WonderWorks, a Los Angeles-based model and prop house founded in Voyage To The Planetsthe 1970s, specializing in accurate sets and models of actual spacecraft (though one of Price’s first gigs in the industry was to design props and build the exterior of the Enterprise for the abandoned late ‘70s Star Trek: Phase II television series, which eventually morphed into Star Trek: The Motion Picture). Though they’re used as portions of a newly-built spacecraft, existing sets of the International Space Station “corridor” and the window-filled cupola module were rented to the BBC for this production. The premise of Voyage To The Planets was later optioned for a more fanciful take on the subject matter for American television, eventually emerging as the much more fictional series Defying Gravity.

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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 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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Firefly The Movie

Serenity

FireflyAn Alliance Operative reviews Simon and River Tam’s escape from the experimental facility where River was modified. He highlights a particular comment by the lead scientist – that several members of the Alliance Parliament had seen River to observe her progress. Given River’s psychic ability, that means that she could possess vital secrets without even realizing it. This is a grave threat, and must be dealt with. For starters, the Operative kills the scientist. Then, he turns his attention to finding River.

On Serenity, Mal, Zoe, and Jayne prepare to take River out for a payroll-robbery job over Simon’s objections. Mal is in no mood to hear them; he reminds Simon that their increased need to avoid the Alliance has resulted in the crew passing up jobs, and work is hard to come by. Serenity is barely holding together and the crew needs to be paid. Now they have a job, River might be useful, and so she’s going. Mal turns out to be more right than he knows when River detects the Reavers coming early enough that the crew can complete the job, get a few people to safety in a bank vault, and barely make their own escape. But the potential danger is the last straw for Simon; once they collect their share of the bounty for the job, he and River will leave Serenity, just as Inara did months before.

Things don’t go nearly that smoothly, however. At the meeting to hand over the stolen payroll, River watches a broadcast that suddenly triggers some of her programming; she begins attacking everyone in the bar and does a stunning amount of damage. Simon is able to knock her out thanks to a programmed safe word, and Mal takes both of them back aboard Serenity. They learn from Mr. Universe, one of their communications contacts, that the broadcast had subliminal transmissions encoded in it. The Alliance deliberately went to a lot of trouble to trigger that outburst from River in order to find out where she was. And thanks to the security video from the bar, they do.

The Operative visits Inara at her temple and forces her to contact Mal and invite him to visit. It’s clear to Mal that the situation is a trap, but he decides to go anyway in order to assess the situation. Before he does, he gets some advice from Shepherd Book, who’s now living in a community called Haven. Once again, Book’s counsel – and former experience, whatever it may be – prove useful. Mal is barely able to escape, along with Inara, from the Operative, and Serenity manages to get away from the Alliance pursuit ships. But when they return to Haven, they find the place has been leveled and Book is dying. In fact, the Alliance has destroyed every place that Serenity has sought refuge, in an effort to keep them from disappearing. The Operative once again asks Mal to turn over River.

Instead, the captain is determined to find answers. Their only clue is Miranda, a word that River spoke right before her attack in the bar. She uses the ship computers to identify it as a planet on the outer edge of the solar system, one thought to be uninhabitable. The only way to get there is through Reaver space, so Mal orders the crew to disguise Serenity as a Reaver vessel, no matter how distasteful that may be. The crew reluctantly complies. When they arrive, they find a stable environment and multiple cities with advanced technology – and nothing but corpses that appear to have died peacefully. A weak signal beacon leads them to a recording made by an Alliance officer. She explains that most everyone on the planet died as a result of exposure to an experimental substance designed to make human beings less aggressive, more passive. On most of the population, it worked too well – they became so passive they simply stopped doing anything, including eating and breathing. But a small minority had their aggression hyped up to the maximum and began preying on everyone else – the Reavers. They were not settlers made mad by the edge of space. They were driven there by the Alliance.

Mal is determined to release the recording to the public, to let people know what the Alliance has been up to and weaken their hold. He sets out for Mr. Universe, hoping to broadcast to everyone in one fell swoop. Anticipating another trap laid by the Operative, Mal lures the Reavers to follow him, initiating a massive conflict between the Reavers and the Alliance. Wash manages to bring a severely-damaged Serenity to rest on the planet right before a Reaver attack impales him. The survivors plan a last stand to buy enough time for Mal to reach Mr. Universe and make the broadcast. But the Operative has already killed the broadcaster and destroyed his main facility. Mal’s last hope is a hidden backup facility . . . but he’ll need to survive one more face to face confrontation with the Operative while his crew survives an onslaught of Reavers and Alliance soldiers.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Joss Whedon
directed by Joss Whedon
music by David Newman

Cast: Nathon Fillion (Mal Reynolds), Gina Torres (Zoe), Adam Baldwin (Jayne Cobb), Alan Tudyk (Wash), Jewel Staite (Kaylee), Morena Baccarin (Inara), Summer Glau (River Tam), Sean Maher (Simon Tam), Ron Glass (Shepherd Book), David Krumholtz (Mr. Universe), Chiwetel Ejiofor (The Operative)

Notes: Mal mentions that River and Simon have been aboard Serenity for eight months.

LogBook entry by Dave Thomer

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Eleventh Hour Original UK Series

Miracle

Eleventh HourHood visits a “healing spring” that has drawn attention for supposedly curing a young boy’s tumor, but runs into resistance when he tries to take a small sample of the water for study; the boy’s father, who has practically turned the spring into a tourist attraction, insists that a sample will taint the spring’s “aura.” But when those who come to drink the water instead find themselves falling dangerously ill, Hood’s investigation switches from trying to debunk a myth that could stop people from seeking proper treatment to finding out what’s slowly killing the village. When government agents move in to take command of the situation, however, Hood realizes that – against all of his scientific training – the miracle cure may be real, but it may also be a symptom of something far more sinister.

written by Simon Stephenson
directed by Roger Gartland
music by The Insects

Cast: Patrick Stewart (Professor Ian Hood), Ashley Jensen (Rachel), Clare Holman (Dr. Williams), Roy Marsden (Drake), Sandra Voe (Mrs. Evans), Darrel D’Silva (Daniel), Matthew Williams (Alfie), Donna Alexander (Hospital Manager), Russell Dixon (Landlord), Nicholas Blane (Surgeon), Martin Reeve (Hydro Manager), James Vaughan (MI6 Officer), Vashti MacLachlan (Journalist), Smug Roberts (Policeman), Elianne Byrne (Nurse), Clyve Bonelle (Paramedic)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
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

Categories
Invasion

The Last Wave Goodbye

InvasionThe hurricane strikes Homestead, and Szura’s master plan goes into effect – people seeking shelter from the storm are forced into the water as the lights descend, providing the raw material for more hybrids. Larkin, Jesse and Rose try to escape the hybrids posing as the National Guard, and then Sheriff Underlay and Russell arrive, guns blazing, taking down as many of the hybrids as they can until backup arrives in the form of the Air Force, who has been called in by Dave and Deputy Sirk. Szura escapes, taking the pregnant hybrid women – and Mariel – with him, to an undisclosed location; his hybrid soldiers, along with Underlay, are rounded up and held for questioning. Once released, Underlay joins Russell to mount a rescue mission to save Mariel, but once she’s safe, Underlay’s next mission is to capture or kill Szura. When Russell tries to get Mariel to safety, she refuses to leave the pregnant hybrids. Even when cornered and mortally wounded, Szura has no doubt that the hybrids will take over, and dies with that promise on his lips. Jesse’s friend Brett, along with another boy from the school, take Larkin and Dave hostage, intending to use them as bait to trap and kill Underlay; Larkin manages to get word to Sirk. Jesse, Rose, Sirk and Kira hide out in the locked room at Underlay’s house, where Sirk hopes to end the hostage situation, but instead becomes a hostage himself. Jesse manages to alert Underlay to the situation just before Brett finds the secret room. Unaware of this, Russell and Mariel transport some of the pregnant hybrids to the water, despite Russell’s fear that allowing them to give birth may give rise to something even worse than Szura or his half-human, half-alien hybrids. Underlay takes back his house, but Larkin is shot in the ensuing firefight. In a last-ditch effort to save her life, Underlay takes Larkin to the water – becoming a hybrid may be her only chance.

Order this DVDwritten by Shaun Cassidy & Charlie Craig
directed by Lawrence Trilling
music by Jon Ehrlich & Jason Verlatka

Guest Cast: Nathan Baesel (Sirk), James Frain (Szura), Edwin Hodge (Brett), Verda Bridges (Brett’s mom), Brent King (Lee), Valerie Cruz (Col. Lopez), Tammy Trull (Alma), Tracey Rooney (Pregnant hybrid #1), Rebecca Avery (Pregnant hybrid #2), Christine Ogunade (Pregnant hybrid #3 – Lydia), Brennan Feonix (Guardsman #3), Alicia Wollerton (Mother), Arthur Young (7 year old), Michael Klock (Husband), Allison Gammon (Wife in crowd), Annie O’Donnell (Old woman in crowd)

Notes: Invasion was cancelled by ABC mere days before its season finale premiered. Though there were hopes that it would be picked up by the CW – a new network formed jointly by Viacom/Paramount/CBS and Warner Bros., the studio that produced Invasion – the show did not appear on the CW’s first schedule. As such, the cliffhanger of whether or not Larkin dies, or become a hybrid and lives, is left unresolved.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Night Stalker

What’s The Frequency, Kolchak?

Night StalkerKolchak tries to follow a lead related to several missing persons cases, only to find himself in a trap laid by a man named Paul Krieger, who claims he was institutionalized with Kolchak over a year earlier. Kolchak remembers being institutionalized after the death of his wife, but doesn’t remember Krieger – and doesn’t know how to respond to Krieger’s insistent ravings that Kolchak’s articles contain coded messages meant for him and him alone. Kolchak is cuffed and chained to a wheelchair, powerless to do anything but listen to Krieger tell him about “the old man” who lives at the end of the hallway in Krieger’s house – and in Krieger’s head. When Krieger’s mental health caseworker arrives, Kolchak asks him to call for help, but the caseworker is captured too – and before Krieger murders him, the caseworker warns Kolchak that Krieger was on day release from the institution when Kolchak’s wife was killed.

Order the DVDswritten by Vince Gilligan
directed by Colin Buckley
music by Michael Wandmacher

Guest Cast: Pat Healy (Paul Krieger), Reggie Lee (Stanley Kim)

LogBook entry by Earl Green