Gatecast 293 SGA Broken Ties

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Nov 212015
 

avatar Ronon and Teyla are off world when they come across a body in the woods, as they approach hidden traps are sprung and in the chaos they are both stunned, Teyla is left and Ronon abducted by an old friend who as is the norm came back to bite him. The tracker Ronon carries is not active so the suggestion is made to contact Solen Sincha another Satedan who may have some information on Tyre the man who kidnapped Ronon. They learn that his Wraith masters have abandoned him and maybe by giving them Ronon a former runner he will regain their favour and this is exactly what is happening. Ronon is given to the Wraith who begins the torture procedure in the effort to get Ronon addicted to the surge of life energy after they kill him, they succeed and Ronon pledges his loyalty to the Wraith. Information arrives about a Wraith lab on the planet Sarif Sur so Tyre and the team mount a raid but they are captured and it seems Tyre has betrayed them but it’s a ruse and when he gets the opportunity he breaks John, Teyla and Rodney out and the battle commences. The Wraith is captured and when threatened with the explosives planted earlier he agrees to release them when Tyre says he will stay behind and hand over the detonator when the team are free, however Tyre redeems his honour by destroying the lab and saving his friend Ronon who still has a long road ahead to purge his system of the enzyme and reverse the mental conditioning.

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Broken Ties is an episode which quickly brings the talents of Mark Dacascos back to Stargate, an accomplished and well trained fighter he is more than capable of holding his own acting wise and bringing a level of reality to a staged action sequence, nothing quite beats being able to use the primary actor for the majority of a stunt. While the dynamic between Ronon and Tyre was certainly the focal point and allowed Jason to dig deep into his own talents to bring to the screen another facet of Ronon we also got the dilemma Teyla was having to deal with being a new mother want to remain at her childs side but having the drive to be the guardian for all. In an episode that had some strong themes it’s surprising we got the usual amount of comedic elements scattered throughout the episode, Woolsey is the major foil for such things as his character settles into the group dynamic and if you need that extra giggle then Rodney in a bubble bath serves it’s purpose.

We want to thank Tim for joining us for this episode, he replied to a tweet on the night of recording so we invited him to join us and he said yes so everything worked out great. You can hear Tim on Partial Nerdity and Unchartered Territories two podcasts that I listen too on a weekly basis. We also would like to thank everyone that has voted in the poll which at the time I write this is 94 people, if we get over 100 giving us their Stargate SG1 top ten episodes we’ll throw in another prize for the draw with our thanks. This weeks promo is for British Invaders a podcast that looks at old UK television shows with a scifi/fantasy/genre leaning and next week we are going to be taking a look at The Daedalus Variations with Thomas, we hope you can join us for that.

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Gatecast 292 SGA The Seed

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Nov 142015
 

avatar A month after the events at Michael’s complex the new head of the expedition in Pegasus arrives via the Daedalus, Mr Richard Woolsey beams down and makes an awkward introduction, it doesn’t bode well. Dr Keller it sees is having some health issues and awakes at her desk to find her hand covered in goo but dismisses it, she is still looking into reviving Carson and when Woolsey is informed of her progress he simply states that at some point you’re going to have to gamble, her research pays off as Carson is unfrozen and the new drug injected into his system stabilizes it, things are looking up. The next morning Teyla is worried the no one has heard from Jennifer and when they access her room they find her in bed with some sort of alien growth covering part of her body. Carson tries to surgical remove it but it reacts and threatens the health of Jennifer so all they can do is attempt to divine its source as it looks like something Carson had seen Michael working with.

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Things are going from bad to worse as this organic hybrid material spreads across her bedroom and buries itself into the structure of the city tapping into local power sources to increase its growth, as it approaches one of the main ZPM power conduites the question is posed in terms of sacrificing one for the benefit of all especially after Radek is attacked by a tentacle when investigating it’s growth in a support tunnel deep within the city. Carson identifies a virus in Jennifer’s system sourced from work undertaken by Michael however it does look like it was an accidental exposure and Carson has developed a counter agent but it has to be injected directly into her flesh and to get there someone has to get past the alien growth which they now know is a baby Hive ship.

Can Jennifer be saved, who will risk the gauntlet and has this been a good first week in the job for Mr Woolsey?

The Seed is considered (or so it seemed to me) to be a victim of some great episodes around it, in many ways it has the feel of an early season episode with a gimmick of the week and ultimately no real consequence but to be fair they are allowed to not hit the proverbial home room with every episode. For fans of Carson the episode pays off, a good example of his talents and commitment to his patients and of course John and Ronon get to do the hero thing, not demanding it has to be said but well produced as is the whole episode. The commentary on the DVD/Blu-ray goes into some of the issues with so much use of visual effects and practical elements for the alien growth and is well worth a listen and despite some negative opinions it was still a fun episode.

Thanks to Brad for joining us for this episode, we had some technical issues but didn’t lose any of the recording which is always the silver lining. We got some feedback over on our Facebook page so thanks to Brad and Steve for that. This weeks promo is for Generations Geek the father/daughter all things geek and genre podcast and next week we are taking a look at the third episode of the final season “Broken Ties”.

Don’t forget we also have the ongoing poll for your favourite ten episodes of Stargate SG1

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Gatecast 291 SGA Search And Rescue

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Nov 072015
 

avatar2In the aftermath of the explosion which brought down Michael’s complex rescue units in three jumpers arrive from Atlantis and begin to look for survivors, a number of people are trapped in the debris including Ronon, John, Evan and Rodney. John is seriously hurt with a piece of rebar through his side and Evan has a broken leg, Ronon and Rodney are bashed and bruised but are actively seeking a way out. Michael light years away gets an automated message from his complex and jumps to hyperspace intent on intercepting those that oppose him and Rodney still with some of the tech he salvaged realises a mayday had been sent and when he and Evan are rescued he informs Carter who begins the preparations to leave. The cruiser arrives in orbit and a dart does a fly by of the complex, Captain Vega shoots it down and the jumpers cloak and flee into orbit leaving John and Ronon behind, for now. Michael sends a team down in the hopes of capturing some prisoners but the Daedalus brings the fight to Michael and the two ships do battle and both are badly damaged. A stalemate exists as they don’t want to kill Teyla who is on the cruiser so they draw the darts away with a 302 attack and a cloaked jumper enters the hangar bay of the wraith ship. The team find Teyla, Rodney stays behind and delivers the baby while John and Ronon blow up the power generator for the hyperdrive and they all escape using a wraith dart, the cruiser is then destroyed and they return to Atlantis where Sam is ordered to return to Earth where she is relieved of her command.

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Search And Rescue has a lot of work to do since the season four cliffhanger left pretty much everyone in peril of death, infact more people should have died after all the complex was destroyed and the amount of rubble falling on the teams should not have left any survivors but it did and alas it was no real surprise. That said the practical set for the debris field was excellent, Captain Vega was seriously kick ass and the CGI used to bring Michael into play was absolutely beautiful. All ready there is enough good stuff in the first part of the episode to forgive them the obvious flaws in the story and thankfully the trend continues as the Daedalus and the Cruiser go head to head and finally the can shoot straight and a tried and trusted method of sneaking on a Wraith ship is employed. Having Rodney deliver the baby was a stroke of genius and again made up for the destruction of the hyperdrive power generators which should really have taken the ship with it but there were some comedic and dramatic moments leading up to their escape. The humour continues with John in the infirmary and finally the sting in the tail as Sam and the audience get the ice water thrown over them as she is replaced by Mr Woolsey!

Search And Rescue is an excellent opener for the fifth and final season of Stargate Atlantis with everything we love about the show there is spades and yet setting ever higher standards in CGI and Set design as well as cinematography and storytelling. We can only look forward to more of the same as the season goes on.

This weeks promo is for Tuning Into Scifi TV and next week we are going to be taking a look at the second episode of the season “The Seed” and Brad will be joining us for that. Thank you to Miles for the feedback from the other week and we also have our Stargate SG1 Top Ten Favourite episode poll ongoing, we hope you take part because there could be a prize at the end of it and not forgetting we all want to know what the fans of SG1 consider the best episodes. If you want to get in touch with us then there many ways, comments on the website or email work great or you can leave comments over on Facebook, Twitter or Google +, we hope you do:)

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Stargate Atlantis Season 4 Wrap Up Show

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Oct 312015
 

After we left Stargate SG1 behind it seems like only yesterday we wrapped up the third season of Atlantis but five months just flew by so here we are:)

Once again we were joined by Brad for this Stargate Atlantis Season 4 Wrap Up Show but alas scheduling and real life got in the way and Alan had to be elsewhere so just this time it’s Brad and Mike talking Atlantis and yet the raw recording was still well over three hours:) Thanks to everyone that voted in the poll, not as many as last time which surprised me given the high regard this season is held in but enough to make the poll valid and with no real surprises. We also want to thank everyone that joined us for an episode this season, gold stars to Brad, Jeff, Thomas, Andrew, Andres, Phil and Ian, look out for some of them on the fifth season episodes.

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Next week we are back to the usual format and kicking off the fifth season with the episode Search and Rescue, hope you can join us for that.

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  1. Be All My Sins Remember’d
  2. Doppelganger  &  Tabula Rasa

Total Votes 40

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Gatecast 290 SGA The Last Man

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Oct 242015
 

avatar2 John returns to Atlantis but not quite the one he intended, the sky is blood red casting ominous shadows across the city and as he walks to a balcony he sees the infinite desert shimmering under a sun very different to the one he left behind earlier that day. John calls across the cities communications channels and someone that sounds very much like Rodney replies that it worked he gets directions to the hologram room and is met be a much older Rodney who drops the bombshell that John has travelled 48,000 years into the future and may be the last human in this galaxy and maybe the universe. Rodney goes onto explain the events which occurred after John went missing including the loss of Teyla, the widespread use of the Hoffan drug and the galaxy spanning assault on the Wraith by Michael’s hybrids. Atlantis was eventually abandoned but not before Ronon died in battle and Sam with the command of her own Starship losing her command and life when taking out three hives. Jennifer passed thanks to the constant exposure to the Hoffan drug which spurred McKay to really explore the possibility of reaching across time to aid John in the hopes that information could be provided which would alter the events and save millions of lives.

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The Last Man is an epic season finale which deals with the manipulation of a timeline to change events which lead to what amounted to incredibly negative consequences. Rodney for all his posturing made it pretty clear the need to give Jennifer a chance of life was his driving force although you can’t really blame him for not devoting his life to a very far fetched attempt to rescue John. The episode contained some very beautiful visual effects and yet didn’t scrimp on character pieces, this is an episode that strikes a perfect balance in a series nay franchise that always set a standard.

A big thank you to Thomas for joining us for this fourth season finale and the podcast promo for a show on my ipod playlist is The Babylon Project, they are on a hiatus at the moment but will return. Next week it’s the season wrap up show along with the results for the poll, we hope you join us for that:)

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Gatecast 289 SGA The Kindred Part 2

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Oct 172015
 

avatar2 A simple case of poor timing means Atlantis continues the search for Teyla who was kidnapped by Michael so he can get access to her unborn and use its genetic material to enhance his hybrid creations, an unexpected bonus leaves Atlantis with an extra doctor who turns out to be a clone, it was a busy day. So Dr Carson Beckett is back on Atlantis unaware that he is a clone and that the original has died and also that Elizabeth was dead and worse of all his dear old mother also thinks he is dead, not much of a homecoming for the good Doctor. Dr Keller is able to prove to Carson that he is indeed cloned from the original albeit it with a fundamental flaw, science to the rescue and he is able to provide the coordinates to a potential facility used by Michael, the team investigates and they capture one of Michael’s soldiers and in return for safety in the Milky Way he provides the location of where Teyla will be heading. Meanwhile Teyla is indeed being held at that facility, Kanaan the father of her child is there but he has been altered by Michael to be little more than a slave but the remaining survivors of New Athos are also there and Teyla is reunited with Halling and other friends. The combat teams from Atlantis raid the complex, a huge firefight breaks out and in the chaos Carson and Teyla flee but are cornered by Michael who has created his “army” with inhibitors so they can never turn on him, Carson is unable to shoot Michael and Teyla is once again take by Michael as he escapes the planet in his cruiser. Carson now knowing there is no immediate cure for the degeneration of his cloned tissues enters into an Ancient stasis chamber, a final goodbye and he is gone again and maybe return when a cure is found.

The Kindred Part 2 (16)The Kindred Part 2 is a strong second episode of this two parter, plenty of pyrotechnics and stunt work when adds to the action quota for the episode but an awful lot of well written character pieces, it’s rather brutal how hard it was for Rodney to explain to clone Carson exactly what he was and what had been happening in the meantime and having Sam have serious reservations also worked well, she didn’t know Carson so there was no prior emotional ties to hamper her immediate concerns. Michael as per usual was well played by Connor and he no doubt appreciated the story moving the character away from the traditional look of the Wraith, less time in makeup and an easier time of it when filming scenes in 45 degree temperatures. A solid episode as the fourth season comes close to it’s end and interesting to hear that this story was bumped forward in the shooting schedule to allow Rachel to have her child, credit to Rachel who was obvious very close to term when filming many of the scenes which could not have been very comfortable.

Many thanks to Brad for joining me on this episode, once again Real Life is proving a little more complex for Alan at this time when it comes to record but things are settling down now he is in work and looking for his own place. We’ve recorded all the shows now for season 4 and will be looking at some bonus shows for the upcoming holidays and starting the fifth season, the two Stargate SG1 movies may be pushed to early 2016 and of course soon after we’ll be starting Universe.

This weeks promo is for The Batcave Podcast and excellent show for fans of the 1966 classic tv series and next week we are back with the season four finale “The Last Man”, we’d love to know what you think about the episode and our show so any feedback would be most welcome.

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Gatecast 288 SGA The Kindred Part 1

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Oct 102015
 

avatar Teyla is having dreams of the father of her child bidding her to come and rescue him and the rest of the Athosians who went missing months before, in the dream he gives her a necklace which he bought for her on an off world market, it’s a clue to their location. Teyla along with the team visit the world and discover a stall selling jewellry and trinkets and he reveals that a trader has been bringing him good quality goods for a few weeks and he is due back soon. Meanwhile Dr Keller is investigating a disease which is spreading quickly across a number of worlds, it seems a mystery but eventually they discover it’s a variant of the Hoffan drug and they take a trip to that world in search of some clues but there was nothing to be found after the Wraith wiped the population out yet it seems someone has been there since. Teyla along with Major Lorne and his team return to the trading world and capture the rogue trader, he agrees to take them to the burial site where he has been acquiring these “goods” but on arrival a Wraith dart arrives and scoops up Teyla, it seems it was a trap to capture her all along. Once again Todd uses the Wraith tracker to arrange a meeting with John and after some friendly accusations a mutually beneficial agreement is made, Todd needs to understand the Hoffan drug and develop a cure for his hive and the team need his resources to find Teyla. It pays off when Todd informs that they chatter between Wraith worshippers indicates a member of Atlantis is being held prisoner, the location is given and the team along with the Daedalus pay it a visit. In the complex a big fire fight takes place and in orbit a Wraith cruiser jumps in, it’s Michael’s ship and a captured bad guys indicates Michael is returning with his latest prize, John tells the Daedalus to capture the cruiser but it escapes but if Teyla was onboard why did the guards fight so hard to defend this prison? The break into the final cell and well a surprise is waiting for them, it was no lie that Michael was indeed holding a member of Atlantis prisoner just not the one they expected…

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The Kindred is a two part story filmed a little earlier in the production cycle to allow Rachel to be fully involved before taking time off from the show to have her child, she is very pregnant and a lot of credit has to be given for the commitment she showed in what was an intensive episode for her character. The story itself makes full use of all the little things we know about the Wraith and Michael in particular so nothing feels out of place except perhaps for how resilient Michael is, the guy is a born survivor and no matter how hard you squish him he always springs back. I liked how Carter was very reluctant to believe Teyla and her dreams not having direct experience of the events that shaped Teyla into who she is now but surprised how on the fence her other friends were but she got what she wanted alas so did Michael. As for the surprise ending of the episode well the fact that kept that underwraps really paid off, it was a serious WTF moment and in the second part of the story it’s all going to get explained in a way that is most satisfying.

The Kindred Part 1 sets the scene as well as being a very good piece of Stargate storytelling and it’s good to seeing Rachel really getting to be center stage, more of the same next week in the second part so a lot to look forward too. This weeks promo is for the Saturday B Movie Reel and next week are going to watch The Kindred Part 2 and Brad will be joining me for that, we hope you can join us as well and let us know what you think of the episode and our show.

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Gatecast 287 SGA Midway

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Oct 032015
 

avatar2 Teyla returns from Earth after an interview with a new IOA rep Mr James Coolidge, Ronon is facing the same and he seems calm about it but Sam is having doubts and recruits Teal’c to Atlantis to offer some insight and his experience to Ronon, however Ronon is in no mood to be tutored on dealing with the IOA on Earth and after drawing his weapon on Teal’c the two retire to the gym for some hand to hand diplomacy. After about an hour of the two beating the crap out of each other Sam breaks the fight up and the two get ready to travel to Earth via the intergalactic gate bridge with a 24 hour stop off at Midway station. Unbeknown to them a Wraith cruiser has landed on a planet which hosts one of the Stargates used in the bridge and hacked into the system (perhaps with knowledge gleaned from Todd’s time in the city) and a force of warriors gate to Midway and brutally take it over. Dr Lee and two other SGC personnel (Dr Kavanagh is one) prevent the immediate travel onto Earth which allows Ronon and Teal’c to do what they are best at but eventually the Earth gate is accessed and a device sent through followed by more warriors, Ronon and Teal’c pursue.

 

John and his team access the bridge via a Stargate that is further into the system than the compromised one and bring the fight to Midway and eventually kill all but one of the Wraith after venting the atmosphere, John is trapped and dying but has to fight off the final Wraith while the rest of the SGC personnel abandon Midway in a jumper, it wouldn’t be Stargate if a new toy doesn’t get blown up within a few episodes. This time it’s the fault of Kavanagh who had tried to override the lockout and tipped a booby trap one Rodney had carefully avoided so boom Midway is no more and the survivors are adrift for a week waiting patiently for rescue.

Midway is a top notch action based episode, the armours, stuntman and cgi specialists really went to town and produced some excellent close quarter combat set pieces, praise to Christopher and Jason for doing some fantastic work as well and of course Bill and Ben (yeah I know) for their banter. I’ve got to offer my thanks to Brad for joining me on the podcast as Alan was in the middle of his move and of course a tip of the hat to Bill for his itunes review. Speaking of which we’d love a few more so don’t be shy, if you listen via itunes then rate the show and gives us a review, we would be very appreciative. This weeks promo is for The Starling Tribune the podcast I listen to for all me Arrow chat and information and next week we are going to be looking at the Atlantis episode The Kindred Part 1.

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Gatecast 286 SGA Trio

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Sep 262015
 

avatar2 Sam, Jennifer and Rodney pay a visit to M5V-801 to confirm to the local population that the mining work the Genii forced upon them two decades previously was going to have grave consequences for their settlements. However on their way the grounds collapse and the three of them find themselves in an unknown abandoned mining complex with little to help them escape. They try to improvise a number of ways to reach the glimpse of sunlight far above their heads but the results are all negative and bring a fresh collection of injuries and the situation continues to get worse. The building they are in is on long stilts which are slowly giving way as the load increase thanks to soil pouring into it from above but maybe the way out is to be found by going deeper rather than higher.

Trio is very much a character piece, pretty much a one location show and allows the already established dynamic between Rodney and Sam to flourish making it very easy to ease Jennifer into the group and a by product is that it opens up the possibility of a relationship between Rodney and Jennifer especially after he made so much of a mess with Katie a few weeks before. The show was also intended to be a bottle episode, limited sets and guest stars but logistically it turned into a nightmare, very complex set pieces and a lot of CGI to removes wire work from the scenes where it was impossible to use doubles. Overall though while at times it can feel a little stretched the story is entertaining and offers up a lot to the regular viewer of Atlantis, maybe not so much to a first timer viewer.

Many thanks to Phil for joining me on this show, this was his first time on Gatecast but since it was recorded in January 2014 not the first time you’ve heard an episode he has been on. This weeks promo is for the Sci-Fi Movie Podcast and next week we are going to be joined by Brad for the excellent Midway, let us know what you think since it’s been gratifying to get some feedback these last couple of weeks:)

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Gatecast 285 SGA Outcast

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Sep 192015
 

avatar John receives some bad news and returns to Earth for his father’s funeral, Ronon accompanies him. At the funeral/wake they are approached by a young woman named Ava Dixon who reveals that she and her boss Dr. Richard Poole have been working with illicit materials and knowledge to produce a human form replicator which has now got loose and has a very definite military component. They arrest Poole and threaten him with the arrest and prosecution of Ava and he agrees to help, they track the replicator to a industrial facility where things don’t quite go according to plan when Poole pulls a fast one and reveals to the replicator how they tracked him, he dies for his troubles and again the replicator escapes. John talks to his ex-wife who is now working for homeland security, he asks for information on the secret project which is behind the replicators creation and along with insights gleaned from pouring over records they figure out the replicator has gone after a source of Neutronium. However in the records they also discover that Ava Dixon died a year before, the Ava they now know is also a replicator but programmed more inline with a “normal” human being, she escapes which works out ok in the end. The trap is set for the replicator and well the humans even Ronon get slapped silly but Ava turns up and the two artificial beings got hand to hand dishing out some brutal punishment, John gets an opening and jabs a device into the replicator, he is immediately beamed into low earth orbit and reenters the atmosphere burning up in the process. Ava having proven herself still can not be fully trusted so maybe or maybe not with her knowledge they incorporate her core programme into the Ancient artificial world as seen on the starship Aurora and her body is destroyed. John builds bridges with his brother and Dr Lee can go back to sunning himself on the beach.

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Outcast gives us quite a bit of back story for John, it seems he comes from money and had issues with the path that was being laid out for him by his father, he rebelled by joining the military whereas his brother seems to have embraced the corporate calling and looks down on John as kind of the black sheep. We also meet John’s former wife  Nancy played by Kari Wuhrer and well it looks like it wasn’t a bad break up and we learn his commitment to his career may have played a significant part in their breakup. I’m not quite sure if we really needed another replicator episode but this was had merit because of all the character back story and of course we got some excellent stunt work and set pieces as well as a couple of new shots of a 304 in orbit.

Many thanks for the support via twitter, facebook and google+ and especially to Mack who posted some comments on recent episodes. This weeks promo is for The Rusted Robot an always entertaining look at geeky and nerdy pursuits with a sprinkling of all things robot. Next week we are going to be taking a good look at Trio and this episode was recorded many moons ago and it was the first Phil (who I used to work with) joined me on the podcast, hope you join us for that and please feel free to let us know what you think and a review/rating over on itunes or stitcher would be most welcome:)

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Gatecast 284 SGA Harmony

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Sep 122015
 

avatar2 John and Rodney visit one of the trading partners of Atlantis, the world is ruled by a monarchy and for the first time they meet the youngest sister (of three) who is due to take the crown on completion of a quest passed down from generation to generation. They agree to aid Harmony the young princess on her journey into the forest and to seek out the Ruins of Larris whose gifts will then be bestowed upon her granting her the right to rule her people, what they don’t know is that behind the scenes forces are moving to make sure their quest fails. It soon becomes apparent that Harmony is very full of herself and has took an instant shine to John but not unexpectedly becomes instant enemies with Rodney who reciprocates in kind which makes the journey interesting to say the least. While deep in the woods the party hear a strange noise, a roaring in the distance and Harmony informs them that that is the “beast” which protects the royal line and is deadly to all enemies and soon after John vanishes and Genii soldiers surround Harmony and Rodney. Rodney actually considers giving them Harmony in exchange for his life but before he can act on such a thought John opens up on the Genii and kills them. It turns out the Genii used to trade with Harmony’s people before being barred from the planet, it seems that they are actively trying to reverse that situation with a little help from with the castle and more specifically from Mardola the sister of Harmony.

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The party continues and find the ruins, they stun two Genii who were in the vicinity and Rodney soon realises that this is a site of Ancient technology and that Harmony and her bloodline has the gene which activates the technology but alas the Genii have kinda broken the device. As the rest of the Genii close in again thanks to information provided by Mardola and Johns’s poor ad-libbing Rodney rushes to fix the device which he is now sure is a weapons system using miniature drone technology. The Genii arrive and a firefight breaks out, Rodney saves Harmony and pulls her to safety and while he then provides cover fire John grabs the royal pendant from Harmony’s throat and rushed to the device, it activates and dozens of small drones appear and slaughter the Genii. Harmony is delighted and impressed by Rodney her new “crush” and now John is in the doghouse but not to worry since Harmony can now activate the device and has become Queen and the trading agreements are intact.
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Harmony is a fun episode which makes you wonder how dark the fourth season is going to get in the final three episodes but for now we can enjoy the banter between John and Rodney and the added firecracker that is Harmony herself. The episode was written for Jodelle and you can see how great she is when given some good writing and over the years she has more than proven herself in numerous productions including her latest role on Dark Matter which finished its first season a few weeks ago. Crystal and Alexis look spectacular in the period costumes and credit to the set designers for what is a simple but striking throne room and yeah we can’t forget the painting of the courageous Rodney:)

Many thanks to Thomas who joined for this episode and I think our discussion benefitted from a third voice in the mix, these funnier episodes really come into their own when you watch with friends. This weeks promo is for  the Treks In Scifi podcast which is one of the longest running shows I’ve listened to and next week we take a look at the Atlantis episode Outcasts, we hope you join us and don’t forget to let us know what you think.

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Gatecast 283 SGA Quarantine

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Sep 052015
 

avatar2 A biohazard warning is triggered in the city which seals every room to counter the contagion leaving a number of people trapped together and things continue to go spectacularly wrong as the day progresses leaving Radek to save the day. Yeah Quarantine doesn’t sound overly impressive but this episode is all about the characters and relationships built amongst the people of Atlantis. We do get some physical exploits from John and as mentioned Radek but these are just the icing on the cake of what turns out to be a very strong episode probably designed to save some money using the standard sets and main cast with one of two guest actors.

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Short and sweet this week as I’m pretty much rushed for time but this was one episode that deserved some extra time devoted to it, it is perhaps one of the more understated episodes of the series especially coming towards the end of the fourth season when we’ve got a good idea of how the main characters think and would react to various situations. While we know what’s on the way it was a shame to see the ties being cut between Rodney and Katie, they were a good couple although I suspect she was enabling him more than allowing him to grow, good for him in some ways but also has it’s downside if he is to become more than he is at the moment.

Thanks to everyone for listening to the podcast and feel free to get in touch and let us know what you think.

This weeks podcast promo is for Generations Geek a father/daughter show looking at tv, book and movies that are of interest to you and me and next week we are going to be joined by Thomas for the episode Harmony, we had a good time watching that.

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Gatecast 282 SGA Spoils Of War

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Aug 292015
 

avatar The long range scans from Atlantis picks up a Hive ship stationary in deep space well away from any planets, the tracker embedded in Todd is pinging from the ship and as it shows no sign of movement a team is sent to investigate. While John and company are gearing up he puts his foot down with Teyla and clearly states that her pregnancy negates her going on this mission, he points out she may be the last of her people and she and her child can not be put at risk, she disagrees. Upon arrival the team discover a damaged Hive with dead Wraith onboard and the tracker lying in a pool of organic goo on the bridge fall, it had been torn out of Todd either by him or by who ever attacked the Hive ship. They seem quite pleased, while the Hive is damaged it’s not a write off and well Ronon said he didn’t touch anything but hey presto the intended destination of the Hive is on screen and indicates a highly classified Wraith complex. John after returning to Atlantis approaches Teyla and asks her to return to the Hive and use her talents to pilot the ship, she agrees and finds that her pregnancy seems to have increased her ability to merge her mind with the Hive control systems and the ship is much less stressful to fly. They arrive at the system where the complex is housed and find that a Hive ship is in orbit and the planet has a space gate, they take a cloaked jumper down (Teyla and Lorne stay onboard the Hive) and the team infiltrate the base and discover the usual creepy corridors and a number of birthing facilities. They also discover a huge chamber full of what look like cocoons or pods each holding a Wraith, McKay tells them that there may be over a hundred of these chambers in the complex meaning potentially thousands of Wraith. It turns out that Todd (who they find in a cell) had stolen a couple of ZPM’s from the Asuran homeworld during the battle and the complex needs ZPM energy levels to power this complex which uses a Queen to create a template Wraith off spring which is then cloned on a massive scale. Todd had planned all this but had been betrayed by one of his own who now serves the Queen in this base and before they can sabotage the complex they are stunned and imprisoned yet Todd manages to escape and make his way to the Hive with Teyla on board. The Queen interrogates the team and just before she feeds off Rodney her mind is taken over by Teyla using her enhanced mental strength to control a Wraith yet the mind battle goes on, a duel of wills which continues as the Queen releases the team and then just before she regains her being John empties his clip into her and they flee. They get to the Hive just in time for the other Hive to commence attacking but they can not leave without destroying the complex, they get into the jumper and send their Hive plummeting into the surface of the planet vaporising the complex. Todd once again lives to complicate matters another day and Teyla realises that she can not be act as if she only has to look after herself and teammates, she has a duty to her unborn which slightly alters her opinion on how John had treated her both as a friend and colleague.

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Spoils Of War is pretty much an unofficial third part of the mid-season two parter but then again this is serialised drama so it’s uncommon for episodes to be closely related just not quite this much. Not for the first time Todd is actually played by Brendan Penny and voiced by Christopher Heyerdahl and I’ll admit until doing the podcast that fact totally passed me by, in my defence first time around I wasn’t watching the show on a large tv or in HD and I was never big into forums and such like so a lot of trivia was passing me by. We got another Wraith Queen again played to perfection by Andee Frizzell who really got the malicious vibe on overdrive when she was confronting Teyla, that was perhaps more intense that her confrontation with John and Rodney. The sets and the visual effects were all good quality, not fall out from the high costs of recent episodes but it has to be said the Hive smashing into the planet could and should have been rendered to a much larger scale, this was a global killer not just a rather large boom. Mind you the look on the Wraith when he was told the Hive they were targeting was flying straight towards them was priceless:)

The episode is a very solid fourth season offering and it was good we got a little more balance to the Teyla situation, up to now it was all big bad John but as first Ronon gave her his support John had to admit he was perhaps a little too overprotective but on the flip side we did get to see Teyla also acknowledging her obligation to the child. All this had to be resolved as this aspect of the character and story is going to become very important as the season wraps and the fifth kicks off.

Many thanks to Jeff for joining us this week, we had a little technical hiccup about 9 minutes into the recording and I admit I panicked a little when I couldn’t find part of the recording but once I realised it had saved under a totally different naming format it all worked out ok. This weeks promo is for the SciFi Diner podcast and next week we are going to be talking about Quarantine which is a change of pace for the show, hope you join us for that and please let us know what you think, we want to know:)

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Gatecast 281 SGA Be All My Sins Remember’d

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Aug 222015
 

avatarThere is a tragic loss when an Atlantis team and the remaining population of a world are wiped out by an Asuran warship but hope is at hand as the Apollo and the Daedalus arrive in Pegasus newly equipped with the Asgard beam weapons in the hopes that combined with the intelligence provided from the tracking module taken from the Asuran breakaway group they can fight back. The plan is to inflict serious damage on the Asuran ships currently wiping out the human populations of planets within the galaxy and ultimately drive the Asurans back to their homeworld and once again to reach a stalemate. Rodney looks to pimp his own plan for an enhanced virus to nullify the Asurans but he is getting nowhere and so the secondary plan of brute force is given the green light and once the battle is joined the human ships rack up an impressive number of kills. Faced with defeat in large scale operations the Asurans regroup in their home system which forces the humans ships to knowingly enter into a killing zone but Rodney has finally had a breakthrough. He has created his own crippled replicator and once embedded into the replicator city it can trigger a subroutine in its coding which forces the bonds between the nanite building blocks to shrink drawing them ever closer together and to lose their ability to act, eventually they will be a mindless blob of material which can then be wiped out by a synchronised explosion of ZPM modules. To aid in this plan Todd offers support from the Wraith and Larrin brings some of her fleet into the battle, together they engage the Asuran fleet in their own system with the intent to buy time for FRAN (Rodney’s pet replicator) to do her thing. It’s all going to plan but then the power grid fails making the ZPM option moot, Sam correctly surmises that the planet being rich in neutronium (Material replicators use to build themselves) and being highly unstable it could also act as a catalyst and as the replicator blob compresses and sinks ever further into the planet a chain reaction is triggered and with moments to spare the fleet jump out as the planet is destroyed.

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All My Sins Remember’d was a very expensive piece of television at least in terms of the budget for the Stargate live action shows and you can see where the money was spent, credit though to the producers as while they spent a lot on visual effects they also secured the return of some of the recurring actors who only bring status to Stargate. You can not really beat Mitch or Michael in command of a F304 when going into battle this time alongside seven Hives and ships from the Traveller fleet. The pretty pictures aside we got a kick ass story following on from the mid-season finale “This Mortal Coil” and it also wrapped up the Asuran arc within the Atlantis storyline, some fans of the series would not be disappointed to see them go if I was being honest.

Ultimately this episode and it’s first part of you paired them directly together are a highlight of the season, well written with lots of action, some humour and good character pieces sprinkled in within the booms which added greatly to the overall feel good factor of the episode, a credit to everyone involved.

Many thanks to first time guest Andres who joined us on fairly short notice, it was a pleasure to have yet another new voice and nationality on the show. This weeks promo is for Tuning Into SciFi TV and next week we are going to watching episode twelve of this fourth season “Spoils of War” in which the Wraith have a surprise or two for Atlantis, Todd the scamp. We hope you can join us for that and as always we’d like to know what you think about Stargate and our show and of course a rating or review on itunes or Stitcher would be most welcome.

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Gatecast 280 SGA This Mortal Coil

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Aug 152015
 

avatar Atlantis is in a bit of a pickle thanks to McKay and some work on the Stargate which has left them without it’s use for a week now, it gets worse when some sort of probe/device smashes into the city in a smouldering ruin. Scans of the object are inconclusive but as Mckay and Zelenka investigate Rodney is sure he saw evidence of Replicator coding but Zelenka claims he saw nothing. Not long after the object destroys itself and with the laptop also destroyed their is no evidence of anything. John while training with Ronon gets injured and goes to the infirmary where Kellar proclaims there is no damage to his face and the blood must have been on the towel in the first place, John is suspicious and gets a full body scan which is negative and then requests a blood test just in case, Keller reluctantly agrees. This test is also clear but John knows something is wrong and Teyla and Ronon begin to share his feelings, the corner McKay in a lab and cut his hand, it heals itself and his amazement and shock is enough to convince them that whatever is going on they are not part of it and therefore can trust each other. They discover the main computer has no records for John’s scans and tests so they devise a plan to get John and Teyla to the infirmary to do another scan and while they are revealing that John is full of nanites Ronon and Rodney track down another lifeform which turns out to be Elizabeth Weir. At that point Keller and Lorne appear armed and reveal that Atlantis and everyone in it are a construct albeit John, Rodney, Ronon, Elizabeth and Teyla are biologic replications of their alternate selves created by nanites. It turns out that this faction of Asurans are still eager to ascend like their creators and have broken away from the main body of the replicator society but the experiment has failed and the forces of Oberoth have found them and warships begin firing on the city and the five human forms barely escape in a cloaked jumper.

They arrive on a world where an SG team have a base and ring home, the “original” team visit the world and meet their counterparts, McKay is absolutely delighted even more so when he learns of a piece of tech which can be used to track Asuran warships throughout the Pegasus galaxy but time is short and the two Asuran warships begin to fire on the location of the camp, one team flee via the jumper acting as a distraction while the other gates to Atlantis and learns exactly how many ships the Asurans have rampaging around the galaxy.

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This Mortal Coil is the mid-season finale for the fourth season and in the grand tradition has a pretty solid cliffhanger which had the audience on the edge of their seat for the month or so between this and the second part of the two parter “Be All My Sins Remembered”. The twist that is hinted at pretty quickly is very satisfying and has ties to story arcs which began when the expedition first met the Asurans and maybe even further if you factor in the appeal to so many of ascension. Truth be told Keller played by Jewel Staite came across very strange, stunted delivery of lines which made sense when it was revealed she wasn’t the real Keller and the Asuran mimicking her only had limited information on her patterns of behaviour whereas other people in the city were more filled out and acted more like their other selves. It’s never going to get old to see Rodney get all excited about meeting someone as good as himself and well only a copy could ever measure up but this counterpart was even better than Rod from the other universe, happy as clams until the whole question of their futures were addressed by killing these copies off in a valiant and successful diversion. In many ways it was a very good episode and story for Elizabeth to make another appearance, some good scenes especially with John but alas only one more guest spot for Torri in the series.

Overall This Mortal Coil was an excellent episode of Stargate Atlantis and if anything the second part is even better which we’ll be covering next week so we hope you join us for that and feel free to let us know what you think of this episode and the show. You can find us on Facebook and Google + as well as Twitter (links upper right hand side of this website) and we are also carried on itunes and Stitcher Internet Radio, reviews and ratings are most welcome. This weeks promo is for Nutty Bites podcast, Nuchtchas is releasing a new show for each day of the month:)

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