Mission: Impossible (1967) – Action!, and The Train

Dan Briggs (Steven Hill) is missing from this week’s first mission (apparently he was written out of the script as punishment for observing his religious beliefs), so Cinnamon (Barbara Bain) picks up the mission while Rollin (Martin Landau) concocts the plan in Action! written by Robert Lewin. This episode first hit the airwaves on 4…

Magic (1978) – Richard Attenborough

Somehow this title has slipped through the cracks of my viewing, and I had never seen it before I threw it on for the next misadventure with Killer Dolls as featured in DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies book. Its directed by Richard Attenborough, written by William Goldman, based on his own novel, stars Anthony…

The X-Files (1993) – Space, and Fallen Angel

Series creator Chris Carter gives us what is arguably not only the worst episode of the first season, but the entire series in the first entry this week. The episode, Space, first aired on 12 November, 1993, and sees Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigating a sabotaged space shuttle mission. Surprise, surprise, Mulder…

Star Trek: Final Frontier (1988) – Diane Carey

The Human Adventure continues… I’ve mentioned before that when I was growing up in Bermuda, Trek books were a big thing for me. I would hit the local shops, tracking down novels as they were released, and hunting down ones I’d missed. I remember when this one came out, it was the third in the…

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1993) – Frame of Mind, and Suspicions

Captain’s log: stardate 46778.1 Frame of Mind is a Brannon Braga scripted tale that first aired on 3 May, 1993, and is a Riker (Jonathan Frakes) centred story. The Enterprise’s First Officer is afraid he is losing his mind, as he seems to be slipping between realities – he is by turns aboard the Federation…

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1991) – The Drumhead, and Half a Life

Captain’s log: stardate 44769.2 Jonathan Frakes directs his third episode of the series, from a script by Jeri Taylor. This episode, a bottle show, first aired on 29 April, 1991. Trouble comes aboard the Enterprise when a Klingon exo-biologist, J’Ddan (Henry Woronicz) is being investigated by Riker (Frakes) and Troi (Marina Sirtis) for sabotage, and…

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) – Vonda N. McIntyre

This week’s Book Shelf brings me to the movie adaptation of Star Trek IV, as I continue to enjoy, discover new stories and revisit old ones with the Pocket Book novels. Working from the film’s original script, McIntyre expands on the film’s story, as well as tying it more strongly into her own stories and…