Category: tv

  • Firefly Episode Guide

    1. Serenity
    After a flashback to Zoe’s and Mal’s days in the wars six years previous, we cut to the modern day where the Serenity crew is running a salvage operation on a deserted ship and are forced to flee with the cargo when the Alliance show up. Their buddy Badger refuses to buy the cargo so they head off to the rim worlds after picking up three passengers: Book, Simon, and Dobson. En route someone sends a signal to the Alliance and it turns out to be Dobson, an undercover Federal agent, who arrests Simon but is glad to take the whole crew in. He shoots Kaylee before being captured, and Simon forces Mal to flee in return for his doctoring services. When Mal investigates Simon’s cargo he finds a naked woman.
    The naked woman is Simon’s sister River, a government test subject he helped to escape. After ducking a dreaded reaver ship, Mal tries and cuts a deal with Patience, an old “friend” but suspects a trap. Patience tries an ambush but the team escapes just as the Reavers return and the Federal agent breaks loose. Mal shoots the agent dead and Wash manages to duck the Reavers. at the end Mal decides to take on all three of his remaining passengers full-time.

    2. The Train Job
    Serenity continues to travel through space conducting illegal runs across the star system, which is under the control of The Alliance. A powerful and fearsome mobster named Adelei Niska demands that the crew of Serenity pull a train robbery. The train is carrying medical supplies for a community, and Reynolds and Zoe get held on suspicion. They get free with Inara’s help but realize they were tricked and try to return Niska’s money. His henchman isn’t too happy, but Mal “persuades” the next guy to take the money back. Meanwhile, two blue-handed, black-suited operatives close in on River.

    3. Bushwhacked
    On a salvage mission aboard a drifting colony ship, the Serenity crew find signs that the crew were killed by the cannabalistic Reavers. They find one survivor, but things take a turn for the worse when an Alliance ship looking for an unspecified Firefly-class ship with brother-and-sister stowaways shows up and takes them in.

    4. Shindig
    On the planet Persephone the crew are contacted by their old “friend” Badger the ruthless crimelord to transport some goods on behalf of a local lord. While at a ball to arrange a transport job with the lord, Mal defends Inara’s honor when her current customer insults her. By local custom he unintentionally challenges her date, Atherton Wing, to a duel.

    5. Safe
    On a planet, Simon is kidnapped by locals who need a doctor, while River is threatened with burning as a witch.

    6. Our Mrs. Reynolds
    While completing a job on a backwater world, Mal is married to a village girl without his knowledge. The girl, Saffron, gets onboard and the crew does not find her until they’re already in the air. Mal is not sure what to do with her, but Zoe thinks she is dangerous.

    7. Jaynestown
    Serenity sets down at the mudder colony of Canton where it turns out Jayne is a hero for having dropped a bunch of money there years ago that he and his partner Stitch stole from the local magistrate. The drop was unintentional but Jayne doesn’t turn down the attentions. Meanwhile, Kaylee and Simon dance, River rewrites Book’s bible, and Inara beds the magistrate’s son, a virgin.

    8. Out of Gas
    In a delirious state after Serenity’s engine explodes, draining the ship of its oxygen supply, Mal has a series of flashbacks about how he came to own Serenity and form his crew.

    9. Ariel
    The crew visit the planet Ariel because Inara needs to receive an annual Companion physical. The crew is offered a surprising job by Simon: in return for stolen medicine he wants them to get him into a hospital to use a high-end scanner to diagnose River. Simon devises a plan – Kaylee and Wash browse through the local dump and find parts to make an imitation emergency vehicle so the crew can get into the hospital posing as EMTs. Simon and River pose as corpses with the aid of a drug Simon has. While Mal and Zoe round up some medicine, Jayne stays with River and Simon, who are unaware he has ratted them out to the Alliance in return for money. Jayne rushes Simon through the examination and on the way out Jayne, Simon, and River are caught by the Alliance. Jayne is betrayed by the Alliance and becomes a prisoner himself. They manage to escape as the Men With Blue Hands arrive and ruthlessly execute anyone who had contact with the Tams. Mal and Zoe end up saving their friends and Simon makes a big deal about Jayne fighting, thinking he was trying to save River and himself. Mal realizes that Jayne leaked the information about Simon and River to the alliance and tosses Jayne in the airlock. Jayne admits to doing so and Mal decides to let Jayne off the hook. In the end, Inara returns, and Simon begins “healing” River.

    10. War Stories
    Jealous of Zoe’s relationship with Mal, Wash insists (thanks to a bit of scheming) that he go with Mal to try to sell some of the medical supplies the crew stole from the Alliance. In the middle of the deal Mal and Wash are kidnapped by men working for Niska the crime lord, who wants revenge against Mal for the botched train heist. He tortures Mal and Wash until Zoe shows up offering money in exchange for the prisoners. Niska says that the money is only enough for one person and Zoe chooses Wash. Wash realizes that Mal’s antagonizing him while they were being tortured was to help keep him alive and kicking. This inspires him to do everything he can to help Zoe rescue Mal from Niska. The rest of the crew jump on board to save the Captain. Meanwhile Inara extends her services to a council member. To the crew of Serenity’s surprise, it’s a woman. And Simon continues to treat River with some of the medicine he stole but she suffers the occasional relapse as well as displays a penchant for blind-shooting.

    11. Trash
    Saffron (from “Our Mrs. Reynolds”) returns – after Mal breaks up her current gig, she convinces him and the crew to help out with a “perfect crime” that isn’t. The crime: go to Bellerophon and steal a criminal’s prototype laser gun from his collection. The plan: Saffron and Mal sneak in and dump the gun down the trash, bypassing security, and the Serenity crew grab it from the disposal system. Of course, this is Saffron, and thigns don’t quite turn out as planned… Meanwhile, Simon figures out Jayne betrayed them (in “Ariel”) and the two have words.

    12. The Message
    An old war comrade of Mal’s and Zoe’s, Tracey, mails his corpse to them. He also leaves a message asking them to deliver his body to his family. Some men claiming to be with the Alliance are on the trail of the body and catch up to them demanding the body. The crew can’t find anything on Tracey’s corpse, but as they prepare to cut it open, Tracey comes back to life. He explains he is smuggling super-organs in his own body. They flee to the planet with the men in hot pursuit and eventually/supposedly agree to give up Tracey. Tracey gets wind of the plan and makes a break for it with Kaylee as a hostage – they shoot him down and Mal reveals they were going to send the officer off since he’s out of his jurisdiction and on a personal mission with no authority. Then Tracey dies and they deliver his body for real this time.

    13. Heart of Gold
    The crew of the Serenity are in for a gunfight when one of Inara’s companion colleagues asks for their help. The Serenity crew defends a bordello from a gunslinger who got a prostitute pregnant and now intends to collect the child; Mal falls for the bordello’s madam.

    14. Objects in Space
    A bounty hunter boards the Serenity to capture River for the Alliance.

  • Deep Space Nine – Season 7

    DEEP SPACE NINE
    Season 7:October 3, 1998 – May 31, 1999

    151. Images in the Sand
    Three months after a possessed Gul Dukat killed Jadzia Dax and sealed the wormhole, life on Deep Space Nine has changed. Kira, the acting commander, is upset when Admiral Ross informs her that the Romulans will set up a station office, while Sisko has retreated to Earth to contemplate a way of contacting the Bajoran Prophets
    the aliens who reside within the wormhole. When the vision of a woman’s face, buried in the sand, appears to Sisko, he sketches her, and Jake recognizes her from one of his grandfather’s photos.

    152. Shadows and Symbols
    Sisko meets Ezri, the new host of the Dax symbiont, before departing Earth for the planet Tyree with his father, Joseph, and son Jake. Ezri wished to accompany them on their search for Bajor’s mythical Orb of the Emissary, which Sisko has been led to believe exists. Back at the station, Kira prepares a blockade to stop the Romulans, who have placed weapons on a Bajoran moon. On a Klingon ship, Worf, O’Brien, Bashir, and Quark embark on a mission of their own: to destroy a Dominion shipyard, thus securing a place for the spirit of Worf’s dead wife Jadzia in the sacred Klingon afterlife of Sto-vo-kor.

    153. Afterimage
    In addition to coping with the memories of her “past lives,” Ezri Dax must deal with the range of reactions her presence generates. Kira awkwardly tries to make conversation; Sisko is happy to have his old friend back; Quark flirts with her; and Worf, pained by the memory of his dead wife Jadzia, which Ezri’s presence provokes, makes it clear he wants nothing to do with her. Elsewhere, Garak inexplicably collapses and is rushed to Bashir’s care.

    154. Take Me Out to the Holo-Suite
    Vulcan Captain Solok brings his starship to Deep Space Nine for repairs made necessary from combat skirmishes. Convinced his all-Vulcan crew is the finest in the fleet, he challenges former classmate and longtime rival Sisko to a baseball game on the Holosuite. With only two weeks to whip his team into shape, Sisko vows he’s going to beat Solok – even though Jake is the only other person residing on the station who has ever played baseball.

    155. Chrysalis
    A group of genetically enhanced humans, once under Bashir’s care, escape from their medical facility home in the hopes that the doctor
    who himself was genetically engineered as a child
    can cure their friend Sarina. Her enhancements left her in a catatonic state, and Bashir attempts an untried procedure on her brain that initially appears to have no effect. However, a few days later, Sarina speaks for the first time.

    156. Treachery, Faith, and the Great River
    Odo is lured to a secret meeting site, where he finds himself face to face with Weyoun, the Vorta leader of the enemy Dominion. Weyoun announces that he’s decided to defect and, in exchange for asylum, he promises to provide valuable information that could help the Federation win the war. After the two board Odo’s Runabout, the ship is hailed by the Cardassians. Odo is shocked when the monitor displays Weyoun standing beside Damar.

    157. Once More Into The Breach
    To Worf’s surprise, he is paid a visit by Kor, an aging Klingon war hero. Kor admits that his ambition has earned him countless enemies, and that consequently he has been unable to secure the command of a ship. Worf promises to find him a miltary command, and approaches General Martok with the request–which is angrily refused. Martok explains that years earlier Kor had denied Martok officer status because he was descended from a common house. Undaunted, Worf appoints Kor as a third officer on the Ch’Tang, Martok’s flagship, where he is treated with awe by the crew–much to Martok’s chagrin.

    158. The Siege of AR-588
    While making a supply run to the front lines, on the barren planet AR-558, Sisko encounters Starfleet troops that have been decimated during their five-month occupation of the largest Dominion communications array in the sector. If they can figure out how it works, Starfleet will be able to tap into Dominion transmissions. In addition to daily skirmishes with the enemy, the shell-shcoked forces are constantly threatened by “Houdinis”
    anti-personnel mines that “hide” in subspace, then explode without warning. Determined to help commanding officer Nadia Larkin and her troops, Sisko stuns his crew by announcing that they’re staying at the site indefinitely.

    159. Covenant
    Vedek Fala, a Bajoran monk and Kira’s former teacher, pays her an unexpected visit. He gives Kira a crystal which transports her to Empok Nor, where, to her horror, she is met by her old enemy Dukat–a Cardassian who oversaw the occupation of Bajor. He is now the leader of a Bajoran religious faction which worships the Pah-wraiths–the corporeal enemies of Bajor’s prophets. Dukat want Kira to join his followers on the abandoned Cardassian space station.

    160. It’s Only a Paper Moon
    After losing his leg in battle, a somber Nog returns to the space station to recuperate. The crew try their best to cheer him up, but the young ensign is struggling, both emotionally and physically, to cope with his disability, even though his new biosynthetic leg works perfectly. After pushing away those who try the most diligently to help, Nog decides to take his medical leave in the Holosuite world of 1962 Las Vegas lounge singer Vic Fontaine.

    161. The Prodigal Daughter
    Sisko is furious when he learns O’Brien has vanished while on a secret trip to New Sydney, where he was searching for the widow of a criminal named Bilby, whom he befriended while undercover. Because Ezri’s family owns a mining operation in the system, Sisko asks her to help find O’Brien. Ezri returns home, where she’s reunited with her domineering mother, Yanas Tigan – a shrewd business woman – and her brothers Norvo and Janel, who work for the business.

    162. The Emperor’s New Cloak
    Grand Negus Zek, the ruler of the Ferengi empire and paramour to Quark and Rom’s mother, disappears while on a business trip to the Alternate Universe. Ezri’s counterpart from the universe delivers word that Zek is a prisoner of the evil Alliance and will be killed unless Quark can secure a cloaking device, which renders a ship invisible. Quark and Rom steal one from a Klingon vessel, then accompany Ezri back to the Alternate Universe to retrieve Zek.

    163. Field of Fire
    A young lieutenant named Ilario is found dead in his quarters. An investigation reveals he was shot by a TR-116 rifle, a weapon developed but never mass-produced by Starfleet. Meanwhile, Ezri confronts one of Dax’s previous incarnations in a dream: Joran, a self-professed murderer, urges Ezri to channel his disturbing memories and enable him to assist her in apprehending Ilario’s killer. When Ezri awakens, she learns that a second murder has occurred.

    164. Chimera
    Odo returns from a conference with an unexpected guest: a Changeling who tracked and boarded his Runabout. Odo recognizes him as one of “the hundred” shapeshifters who were, like himself, sent out as infants into the galaxy to learn about other species. Back at the station, Sisko warily releases the visitor to Odo’s custody. The Changeling, known as Laas, queries Odo about their unique species – with which Laas has made no contact since his infancy – and “the Link,” a Changeling ritual that allows shapeshifters to meld with one another and thereby form a single, sentient collective entity.

    165. Badda-bing, Badda-bang
    While relaxing in Vic Fontaine’s Las Vegas holosuite lounge, O’Brien and Bashir are surprised by the arrival of mobster Frankie Eyes, who announces that he has bought Vic’s hotel. After he fires Vic, the crew learns that Frankie was created by Vic’s designer. Upset by Frankie’s behaviour, and by the knowledge that the lounge’s atmosphere will now change, the crew desides it must rid him from the program. But he must be eliminated in a way what is period-specific to Fontaine’s era: 1962. The task takes on greater urgency when Vic is beaten up.

    166. Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges
    On the eve of Dr. Bashir’s departure for a conference on the Romulan homeworld, he’s visited by Sloan, the director of Section Thirty-one, a secret and unsanctioned extremist entity within Starfleet Intelligence. Sloan asks a reluctant Bashir to gather information on the Romulan leadership. Bashir reports the request to Sisko, who worries that although Starfleet Command has officially condemned Section Thirty-one, someone in its membership may actually be protecting the group. After consulting with Admiral Ross, Sisko advises Bashir to play along with SLoan in order to determine Sloan’s motivations.

    167. Penumbra
    As Sisko revels in the purchase of Bajoran land, where he hopes to finally build his dream house, word reaches the station that Worf is missing in action after a fierce battle with the Dominion. Due to strategic concerns, Sisko calls off the search party before Worf can be found. Overcome by memories of Jadzia’s life with Worf, Ezri steals a runabout and goes in search of Worf herself.

    168. ‘Til Death Do Us Part
    Kai Winn arrives at the station to “assist” Sisko with his wedding, and he admits the Prophets warned he would face a great trial in his future. Later, Winn has a long-awaited vision from the Prophets, who reveal that a “Guide” will soon visit her; the Prophets hope that, together, the two will lead Bajor’s Restoration. Shortly before Sisko tells Kasidy that they must call off their wedding, Dukat, surgically altered to look like a Bajoran, appears of the Promenade.

    169. Strange Bedfellows
    Worf and Ezri are beamed aboard a Jem’Hadar ship, where the Female Shapeshifter and Thot Gor, the respective leaders of the new Dominion-Breen alliance, prepare to sign a treaty designed to destroy the Federation and end the war. However, Damar objects to signing it because of concessions, made to Thot Gor, which could harm Cardassia. Meanwhile, Kai Winn and Dukat seal their bond by pledging to restore Bajor – even if the Emissary stands in their way.

    170. The Changing Face of Evil
    The crew’s relief at Worf and Ezri’s safe return is tempered by reports that the Breen have attacked Starfleet Headquarters on Earth. While Dominion and Breen commanders exult in their sneak attack, their supposed ally – Cardassian leader Damar – secretly plots to free his homeland from Dominion occupation. Meanwhile, on Bajor, Dukat tells Kai Winn she must release the Pah-wraiths – the corporeal enemies of her people’s gods – from the planet’s fire caves by reading the ancient forbidden text of the Kosst Amojan.

    171. When It Rains
    Eager to aid Damar’s rebel movement on his homeworld against the Dominion, Sisko orders Kira to put her antipathy for the Cardassian aside and train his staff in resistance tactics. Bashir asks Odo to assist in his medical project by donating the Changeling-equivalent of a skin sample. On Bajor, Kai Winn studies the forbidden text of the Kosst Amojan to learn how to release the evil Pah-wraiths. Hoping to ease Cardassian sentiment against the Bajoran Kira, Sisko gives her a Starfleet commission and uniform.

    172. Tacking Into The Wind
    While Kira reviews tactical plans with the Cardassian Resistance leaders, Odo returns from a mission, weakened by the disease that’s ravaging his race. At the station, Bashir works through the night, trying to find a cure for Odo, while Sisko reproves Chancellor Gowron for reckless attacks which left General Martok injured. Back at the revel headquarters, Kira, eager to discover why the Federation’s Klingon ships aren’t damaged by Breen-Dominion technology, proposes stealing the enemy’s weaponry so that the Federation can engineer a countermeasure.

    173. Extreme Measures
    Bashir and O’Brien capture an agent from Section 31 and probe his mind in a search for the cure to Odo’s disease.

    174. The Dogs of War
    With the Cardassian resistance movement crushed, Kira, Damar, and Garak find themselves trapped behind enemy lines. Meanwhile, Grand Nagus Zek announces his retirement and plans to name Quark his successor.

    175. What You Leave Behind
    As the war careens toward a final showdown on Cardassia, Sisko’s definitive action as the Emissary draws near.

  • First cell phones arrive in Darwin

    Sometimes it appears that mobile phones have been with us always, yet in 1988 the arrival of a cellular phone network in Darwin was big news.

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  • Journalist of the year 1987

    Receiving the award from the Administrator Commodore Eric Johnstone, and President of the NT Branch of the Australian Journalists Association, Richard Creswick.

    In 1987, primarily through a body of work surrounding the world heritage listing of Kakadu National Park, I was the joint winner of the Electronic Journalist of the Year award for the Northern Territory.

    I shared “The Eric” with my colleague Phil Smith, who had a reputation for the quirky stand-up.

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  • Pine Gap protests

    Covering Pine Gap demonstration

    In 1987, the lease on the satellite monitoring base, Pine Gap, near Alice Springs was up for re-signing by the Federal Government.
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  • Barra classic

    It wouldn’t be the Top End without a bit of barramundi fishing.

    While a keen fisherman myself, in 1987 I covered the annual Barra Classic, on its return to Corroboree Billabong.

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  • INXS newser

    One of the benefits of working in smaller TV newsrooms is that you do get to do a bit of everything.

    In August 1987, I was heading for an early finish to my day when asked to cover a media conference with Australian band INXS, and songstress Jenny Morris.
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  • Victoria River murder

    In June 1987 I was asked to take a camera crew and helicopter to Victoria River to cover the search for two Western Australian fishermen who had gone missing.

    The two men, father and son Marcus and Lance Bullen, had left their wives at the Victoria River Roadhouse to go fishing. They had spent the night at the roadhouse and were expected to be back in time to move on that day.

    Soon after we arrived the police made the grizzly discovery, the two men had been found murdered.
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  • Gurig National Park

    Port Essington ruins

    Sometimes as a reporter you get to go to those beautiful, out-of-the-way places most only dream about.

    One of these is Coburg Peninsula, the original European settlement in the Top End.

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  • Manbulloo mangoes

    Mangoes

    One of the countries largest mango plantations was established on Manbullo station.

    The plan: to take advantage of an earlier growing season to get mangoes on supermarket shelves before the Queensland crop arrives.

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