Mission: Impossible (1968) – The Cardinal, and The Elixir

John T. Dugan puts the IMF team through their paces in this episode he wrote, The Cardinal, which first aired on 17 November, 1968. Phelps (Peter Graves) and his team are asked to sneak into a country behind the Iron Curtain (which looks amazingly like Southern California) and deal with General Zepke (Theodore Bikel), a…

Mission: Impossible (1968) – The Mercenaries, and The Execution

The IMF head down to Central Africa to bring down a mercenary and his army for hire in The Mercenaries, written by William Read Woodfield and Allan Balter. This episode first aired on 27 October, 1968, and is the first episode up this week as I continue to explore The Complete Series on blu-ray from…

Star Trek: The Original Series (1968) – Plato’s Stepchildren and Wink of an Eye

Captain’s log: stardate 5784.2 Plato’s Stepchildren first screened on 22 November, 1968 and was written by Meyer Dolinsky. The episode is of historical note because of the first American broadcast interracial kiss when Captain Kirk (William Shatner) kisses Lt. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols). Beyond that, the story is rather basic. The Enterprise is summoned to a…

Star Trek: The Original Series (1968) – Spectre of the Gun and Day of the Dove

Captain’s log: stardate 4385.3 Spectre of the Gun is a bit of an interesting episode. Written by Gene Coon, under a pseudonym the episode premiered on 25 October, 1968.  When the Enterprise trespasses into Melkot space, the alien race punishes some of the crew including Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy), McCoy (DeForest Kelley),…

Doctor Who (Patrick Troughton) – The Invasion

  This eight part series written by Derrick Sherwin, which aired from 2 November to 21 December 1968, is an epic story that sees the return of the Cybermen (who remain unseen in the story until episode 4), the appearance of UNIT, and it’s commander, now Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. The TARDIS arrives in London, after eluding…