The third episode of The X-Files introduces us to the Monster of the Week scenario and shows that it isn’t going to be just about UFOs and alien abductions. It also introduced us to an immediately iconic villain with Eugene Victor Tooms (Doug Hutchison). Squeeze, written by Glen Morgan and James Wong, first aired on…
Tag: UFO
The X-Files (1993) – Pilot, and Deep Throat
10 September, 1993. Man, that feels like a long time ago, despite the fact that my mind tells me that the 80s were only a couple of years ago. Weird. Sounds like an x-file. Much like my watching of Star Trek, tons has been written by other fans and critics about Chris Carter’s creation, so…
Miami Vice (1987) – God’s Work, and Missing Hours
Castillo (Edward James Olmos) gets a bit of the limelight in this episode written by Edward Tivnan, which first aired on 6 November, 1987. When the son, Felipe (Esai Morales) of a drug dealer, Jorge (Juan Cejas – who will always be a Joan Wilder fan to me) returns to town, the team is trying…
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1995) – Starship Down, and Little Green Men
Station log: stardate 49263.5 David Mack and John J. Ordover pen this episode that first premiered on 6 November, 1995. Inside a gas giant, Captain Sisko (Avery Brooks) leads the Defiant crew on a dangerous cat-and-mouse game with some Jem’Hadar ships that were attacking a Karemma ship.As the crew work to elude and outwit the…
Space: 1999 (1975) – Breakaway, and Force of Life
After Star Trek, but before Star Wars, Gerry Anderson, who was responsible for such series as UFO, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and Fireball XL5 took viewers around the world on an exploration of space, all on our planet’s own moon – which was jolted out of orbit by a nuclear explosion! Playing a little more cerebral…
The Twilight Zone (1964) – Come Wander with Me, The Fear, and The Bewitchin’Pool
We arrive, this week, at our last stop in The Twilight Zone. The exploration of The Complete Series comes to its ultimate conclusion with this last trio of episodes. First up is Come Wander with Me. Written by Anthony Wilson, this episode, directed by Richard Donner, debuted on 22 May 1964. The story follows musician…
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1991) – First Contact, and Galaxy’s Child
Captain’s log: stardate unknown Marc Scott Zircee came up with the episode’s story that was adapted to teleplay by Dennis Bailey, David Bischoff, Joe Menosky, Ronald D. Moore and Michael Piller. Airing on 18 February, 1991, this Riker (Jonathan Frakes)-centric story puts the strange new worlds shoe on the other foot. Riker is undercover on…
First Men in the Moon (1964) – Nathan Juran
My time with DK Books’ The Movie Book pays off big time with the What Else to Watch list associated with Melies’ A Trip to the Moon – it brought me this 1964 oddity, which is based on H.G. Wells’ story. A multi-national crew is making the first manned landing on the moon. Imagine the…
Quantum Leap (1992) – Killin’ Time and Star Light, Star Bright
Sam (Scott Bakula) is in for an interesting ride this week in Killin’ Time. Written by Tommy Thompson with an original airdate of 20 October, 1992, Sam finds himself in the person of Leon Styles, a violent escaped convict on 18 June, 1958. He’s troubled by the fact that Al (Dean Stockwell) hasn’t shown up…
The Twilight Zone (1960) – The Monsters are Due on Maple Street, A World of Difference and Long Live Walter Jameson
This week’s journey into the dark reaches of the psyche as I continue my travels with Paramount Pictures through the Twilight Zone starts with one of the series iconic episodes – The Monsters are Due on Maple Street. Rod Serling penned this episode that had an original airdate of 4 March, 1960. Disaster is about…
Star Trek: The Original Series (1967) – Tomorrow is Yesterday and Court Martial
Captain’s log: stardate 3113.2 Tomorrow is Yesterday is the series first full-on time travel story, penned by D.C. Fontana this great, and often funny, episode had an original airdate of 26 January, 1967. After a slingshot around a star throws the Enterprise back in time (this sounds important and may be used again in future)…
The Greatest American Hero (1981) – Pilot
In 1981, I was living in Kingston, Ontario, I had fallen in love with Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Return of the Jedi was still a long ways off!! Television, of course, still continued to entertain me, and Stephen j. Cannell was right there keeping an occasional evening occupied with his take on…
