As reported over on The Mary Sue the original 3d printer specs for a Stargate have been enhanced and added to by Cara McNab with quite fantastic results.
Dec 042014
Dec 032014
The Stargate Atlantis episode The Game is given an Opinionated Review, we’ll be covering this episode ourselves shortly but I doubt we will be as insightful or interesting 🙂
Visit the SF Debris website and let him know how much you like his work:)
Nov 302014
Many thanks to Trekzone for sharing and allowing the embedding of their interviews from the Brisbane Supanova Pop Culture Expo, here we have an interview with Torri Higginson and you’ll find plenty more scifi themed chats on their site and youtube portal, go have a look see especially the one with Joe Flanigan from last years event 🙂
Nov 292014
I’ve still not played Skyrim despite picking it up on Steam but eventually:)
Thanks to Firehawk Gaming and Andrej Markovic.
Nov 272014
Adam tweeted last week that he would be making a guest appearance in the new episode “Down The Drain” as Major Crimes returns to the screen, he played Mr Maguire who is part of the investigation into the death of a woman who recently gave birth, I’ll leave to you to watch the episode to see how exactly his character fits into the mystery. Adam appeared a couple of times on Stargate SG1, first as Goa’uld in Children of the Gods and then as Khonsu in the episode The Other Guys and only recently played Jason Axelrod on an episode of NCIS New Orleans.
Nov 232014
Stargate SG1 Top Ten Quotes thanks to Jessica for tweeting the link and Mark for it’s youtube presence.
Nov 222014
So nice (always is) to see Salli Richardson-Whitfield on the small screen, she was excellent in Eureka as Allison Blake but only appeared once on Stargate SG1 in the first season episode Bloodlines playing Drey’auc the wife of Teal’c. Salli guest starred on the recent episode of NCIS “Alibi” playing the attorney Carrie Clark and had instant chemistry with Gibbs despite not being a love interest, not sure if that’s Salli or Mark:)
Nov 192014
A great day when we get two reviews, many thanks to SF Debris for creating these videos and sharing, up first Within The Serpent’s Grasp.
The Serpent’s Lair
Visit the SF Debris website and tell him how much you like his work:)
Nov 172014
Suanne Braun and Alaina Huffman interviewed during the Armageddon Expo in Melbourne by Nerdzilla, many thanks to ABC for allowing the embedding of their interview.
Nov 062014
Far Horizons is a compilation of ten short stories set within the Stargate SG1 and Atlantis worlds from authors well known within the genre, the book was published by Fandemonium / Stargate Novels with the ebook released on the 23rd of October and the paperback on November the 8th. This review is just going to brush the surface of the the ten stories since I don’t want to spoil anything and while many people are not interested in sitting down and reading a full novel these ten stories are an ideal length in terms of content to equate to episodes and we’re all happy to watch an episode.
Draw Down the Moon by Suzanne Wood
In Draw Down the Moon SG1 are assigned for a follow up mission to the planet designated P3X-228, they return to the world to take up an open invitation from one of the communities elders to return for their festival but they are also seeking out a source of some energy readings which indicate the use of high technology. As the energy source continues to elude SG1 their conversations with the locals and the purpose of the festival raise some questions, enigmatic meetings with a number of women add to the increase in tension as the festival nears, are these people in danger, are they more than they seem and are SG1 all alone on this world facing the unknown yet again…
Who doesn’t love a mystery and the conversations that mystify SG1 yet open their minds to possibilities.
Bone Music by Peter J. Evans
The planet M3T-211 is a nightmare, a world shrouded with a particle field which will block sensors making it an ideal off world facility IF the members of the teams could actually operate under a sky which provokes nausea and illness. Sheppard and his team along with a science contingent are surprised to find a young girl on the island which holds the Stargate and then a small community who are aware of the “portal” but seem to have a healthy fear/nervousness about mainlanders and sea folk and indications of Wraith presence are found on the island. A festival is approaching and while the locals seem friendly it’s evident they are hiding something but should the people from Atlantis interfere without knowing all the facts.
A dark story which highlights the pitfalls of interfering with a society.
When On Earth by Sabine C. Bauer
The first Jaffa to visit the SGC in peace, his name is Teal’c and he’s thrown away everything he has achieved in his time as a warrior of the System Lord Apophis to follow a single man whose words gave him hope that maybe his people and his brothers across the galaxy may one day be free. Take a look at the SGC and it’s air force personnel through the eyes of an alien as he has to adjust and accept a new reality, potential friendships, allies and maybe a renewed determination that his choice was the right one.
What would it be like to be alone amongst aliens, Teal’c the man the legend.
Close Quarters by Melissa Scott
A salvage mission of an Ancient warship is ongoing and Ronon has been volunterred if for no other reason than to keep him busy and not brooding over a failed potential romance with Dr Keeler, the fact she seems to like Dr McKay isn’t helping but work will take his mind off it his friends are sure. A distress call from a Traveller ship has the puddle jumper fly off leaving Zelenka and Ronon to continue their work but structural stresses in the hull of the ship being to tear it apart and with time running out they search for away to escape the dying ship with no help at hand.
Zelenka is a great character and teaming him up with Ronon well that’s a winner.
Time Keeps on Slippin’ by Keith R. DeCandido
After a narrow escape from the dying Asgard starship Biliskner Jack, Sam and Teal’c with Thor in statis arrive on a world formerly surveyed by the SGC but it’s not quite as reported, the landscape is changed but with no recourse they set out to find Thor’s pod which had arrived a little earlier than the humans but then Teal’c vanishes. Sam finds his weapons and when turns back finds O’Neill frozen in place with some sort of energy field between them, alone she sets out to find her missing friends knowing she can no do anything for Jack and the consequences of her decisions and actions were reverberate around this world for generations to come.
The mystery of the Soul Patch and a tale untold.
Consort by Amy Griswold
The majority of the Ancients have died or fled the Pegasus galaxy but their progeny known as the Asurans are still fighting against the dominant life form in the galaxy known as the Wraith. Onboard one hive ship the political and social power play amongst the males for the favour of their queen results in an audacious plan to strike at the heart of the Asurans and turn the tide of the battle, this is the story of this hive and one wraith in particular.
An insight into the Wraith, not just a generic bad guy.
Perceptions by Diana Dru Botsford
SG1 still suffering from the loss of their close friend and colleague Janet Fraiser undertake a mission to strike a super soldier facility but they become pinned down and flee the planet in a stolen cargo ship controlled by a symbiote who claims to be a captured Tok’ra whose host has fallen. As each member of SG1 deals with their grief over Janet and failure to gel as the team they once were they are forced to confront themselves and their feelings with each other, the imprisoned Tok’ra Penthos adds an extra dimension to the dynamic especially with Jack with his existing issues with both symbiotes and the Tok’ra.
Crosswords and character interaction with a depth which was missing despite the excellent Heroes which dealt with Janet’s loss.
Pleasure Cruise by Geonn Cannon
Colonel Samantha Carter commanding officer of the Daedalus class starship the George Hammond once again runs across the mysterious starship they waylaid the Prometheus so many years before. This time with no head wound to confuse the issue these projections/entities or figments of her imagination can be more directly questioned revealing much more of this enigmatic but so very powerful starship which despite being aggressive had dealt honourably with her when she had saved both ships during their previous encounter. Who are they and what do they want?
Good ol’ George and Samantha front and center proving what we already know.
Off Balance by Sally Malcolm
Jack O’Neill is recruited by agents acting for the Air Force and the SGC to help in the rescue attempt of SG1 thanks to his genetic gift of the ancient gene, his mission will be to activate a piece of alien technology on an off world compound where SG1 are being detained but not everything is as it seems and once the excitement is over the consequences have to be addressed and decisions made.
Things that were left unsaid, artfully done continuation of a character that should have been addressed in the series.
A Blade of Atlantis by Jo Graham
Atlantis rocks under the initial onslaught from the Wraith as they are softened up before the hive ships arrive which gives the expedition time to get the Ancient chair and drones working but time is of an essence and Wraith are loose in the city. Zelenka with an armed escort is making his way to the chair room via a very round about path as the transporters are down but when they are ambushed Zelenka faces death until help from a very unexpected place arrives and changes everything for Radek.
A seamless addition to what was an outstanding trilogy of episodes.
So there you go, more than enough to wet your appetite and like I said these are not long time consuming stories but snippets of time amongst the SGC and Atlantis which in some cases make use of existing gaps within the narrative to slip in and enhance the televised stories and others which standalone. Now I have my favourites and to be honest which I prefer is not that important since they all have merit, some are a little funnier than others some quite dark but for the price I don’t think any Stargate fan would feel let down by either the paperback or ebook of Far Horizons.
Far Horizons
Nov 052014
Christopher Judge is interviewed by Superhero Junkies at the recent Comikaze Expo, he talks about Stargate, Nobility and some future projects. Many thanks to Superhero Junkies for sharing the interview and allowing it to be embedded, check out further coverage and features on their website and follow them on Twitter.
Nov 042014
David Hewlett’s latest movie Debug was released on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK yesterday (November 3rd) after doing the festival circuit, distribution deals for other markets are ongoing so hopefully everyone that wants to watch the movie will get a legitimate option. Anyhow this is a spoiler free kinda review of the movie, can’t really go into a huge amount of detail but I can certainly offer a few comments so here we go. First off kudos for making any Star Wars space ship opening shot look short, as the camera flies down the length of the freighter Amphitrite you really understand how big it is and the CGI is beautiful, not over the top almost spartan but exactly what’s needed for this movie. The interior of the ship is very nice but doesn’t really suit the mothballed status of the ship, I would have expected something obviously well used which you do see in some of the nuts and bolts (warehouse shots used for the heart of the ship in the same way Trek 2009 used a brewery). Now the crew, in any movie where you expect most of them to die during the story you have to be invested in them and that isn’t alway the case but amongst these convicts, yes they are cybercrime prisoners working off their sentence by doing these deep space operations some I liked and some I wasn’t overly keen on. Of course as a Stargate fan I was more interested in Jason Momoa and Adrian Holmes but the rest of the cast all played their parts well with Jeananne Goossen leading by example and I suspect the younger actors in the business these days are far more comfortable working green screen and CGI heavy productions. There were some nice twists and turns with certain members of the crew which while not directly feeding the plot helped to build and expand the characters, it’s always important to balance plot, character and action and Debug I think did pretty good although it’s by no means a fast paced movie. I suspect that for many the pacing of the movie may be considered a little slow but I feel it fell into the same style as Alien, Sunshine or Event Horizon and no doubt a few others I can’t remember right now in that the build up was maybe more important than the payoff or the payoff only really works if you’ve lived with these people for a time.
Debug ultimately is a tale about human intelligence versus machine intelligence, a terrifying possible future as our civilian and military aims may diverge with safeguards and regulations not always in place or required as results become more important than potential consequences. I’m not going to claim Debug is a great movie, it isn’t but it is good and I enjoyed every minute and it certainly stands head and shoulders above it’s roots having made the most of the production budget and talent pool open to the producers via the Canadian media market and of course it doesn’t hurt to have a relationship with actors who have become “names” in the global market. A solid cast combined with an interesting story, very good CGI and VFX with an understated but good score results in something David and everyone else involved can be proud of, Debug was not a lets gets everyone together and make a movie like A Dog’s Breakfast (funnier movie but nowhere near as complex) and shows a significant progression in David’s movie making and lets hope the distribution deals can all get sorted as shelf life can be short even for mainstream movies these days.
One negative and this isn’t an issue with the movie but the UK release, these days a Blu-ray or DVD should have extras, I was rather surprised to see nothing and to be honest I would love to hear David do a commentary for the movie with a technical slant or not, who knows the rights open to other distributors may indeed include supplementary material but lets hope we don’t get this smaller budget movie looking to exploit fans by selling “extras” via the likes of itunes.
Nov 032014
So since I am watching television during the day it means yes I am off work this week so I went to the NAS and watched an episode of NCIS New Orleans, still not sold on the show but I’m giving it a go and well it doesn’t hurt when Cliff Simon is guest starring. The episode in question is the third in the premiere season entitled “Breaking Brig” and he plays the escaped prisoner Dmitry Babakov who is chased across Alabama by the team with a little help from Gibbs 🙂 This is the second major network show Cliff has appeared in this new television season and as he says having a reputation as a reliable professional actor will get you work and once the ball gets rolling there are opportunities.
Nov 032014
I’ve just watched the fourth episode of the fourth season of Once Upon A Time called “The Apprentice” which weaves in the sorcerer, the hat and the broom but as of yet no Mickey Mouse (that’s a good thing) and I was convinced that the title character was not Timothy Webber but actually Matthew Walker who we’ve seen playing Merlin in Stargate SG1. Google helped me out and yes of course now I know where I’ve seen Timothy, he plays Moon on Cedar Cove and way back he was Commander Gareth on the SG1 episode Icon and a priest in the Stargate Universe episode Air Part 3.
Nov 022014
Here are three recent interviews with Richard Dean Anderson recorded when he attended the recent conventions in Australia and New Zealand, judging from our twitter feeds the conventions were a major success especially for the Stargate fan. Many thanks to MacGyver Online, 0800 Tardis and David Farrier for sharing these videos, check out more of their work.
