Ancient Archives - Gatecast

Gatecast 206 SG1 Babylon

Dec 142013

SG1 along with support from SG22 are on an alien world in search of the legendary warriors of the Sodan who are a group of Jaffa who were the first to break away from their System Lord masters many thousands of years earlier. They chose not to interact with their former brethren and live apart and slowly fell into the tales and legends of the remaining Jaffa but new information encourages the SGC to search them out. The team are ambushed and while under fire Mitchell is wounded and taken by the Sodan who are unable to retrieve one of their own wounded who was captured when SG22 joins the fight. Cameron is taken to the Sodan village where he is trained to a standard which will give him a fair chance during an honour fight a consequence of drawing Sodan blood but is troubled when he sees that the Sodan are falling under the spell of the Ori. Meanwhile at the SGC the captured Sodan is questioned and they attempt to prove to him that the Ori and their Prior’s stand for everything the Sodan rejected so many generations ago.

Where’d they go?

Well what can you say about this episode that doesn’t sound like I am sucking up to the producers, writers, director and cast? Not a lot because the episode looks fantastic, the new location village is movie quality and the music haunting and doesn’t suffer from the comparison to The Last Samurai even though the plot is similar. We have some excellent guest stars as well with Tony Todd, William B. Davis and the brothers Jarvis W. and Jason George all of who really add depth and value to the episode. The story opens up the Jaffa element of the show which has for many been a dying arc and both elements of the story work very well together.

Nice swords dude!

Well we can’t talk about this episode without mentioning quite a few references to Star Trek, the fight and it’s result hark back to Amok Time and even Cameron comments on the fact by calling Jolan “Bones” yet as always it’s done with a huge nod to the audience which makes it fun and not cheesey in any way.
We can also overlook the Tom Cruise connection, the stranger in a strange land is not a new story idea and it’s done in two ways within this episode both of which pay off but not to the level I think many of us would have hoped for.

This is the final regular episode of Gatecast in 2013, the next four episodes will be bonus shows which feature subjects which are not Stargate but have very definite ties to the franchise and we will be begin with the Seaquest episode “Vapours” which has the DeLuise clan in attendance. Many thanks for the feedback, we got some good chat over on the Facebook page and as always twitter has been busy and we are still seeing some nice business being done over on our G+ page. We would love to hear from you and there are plenty of SG1 and SGA episodes that await a guest host so if you fancy doing a show with us check out the schedule (Tab at the top of the page) and get in touch and we’ll see about sorting out a date and time. We know given enough notice that recording with guests from far flung locations and timezones is quite possible so don’t let that worry you either.

We have a couple of promo features in this episode, first up is HEXED: Sisterhood of the Supernatural and then Michael Clark’s new project Visionary Trek, check both of them out:)

Happy holidays, enjoy the show and stay safe.

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Gatecast 192 SG1 Avalon Part 1

Episodes No Responses »

Aug 312013

Changes abound in and around the SGC with the aftermath of the battle for Dakara and the attack by the Replicators on the base. Major General Jack O’Neill has moved on and his chosen replacement Major General Hank Landry has taken over and is having running battles with his “psychic” assistant one Master Sargent Walter Harriman. Lt Colonel Cameron Mitchell recovered from the battle over Antarctica against the forces of Anubis has taken over the command of SG1 and expected to be working with Sam, Daniel and Teal’c but they like Jack have moved on. He valiantly attempts to get the band back together but is getting nowhere until one Vala Mal Doran visits the SGC with a tablet and the promise of technology and treasure and low and behold everyone is off on a mission to track down the old haunts of Merlin and the buried secrets of the Ancients in and around Glastonbury.

A slight technical issue…

Well season nine heralds some significant changes for the show with Richard Dean Anderson becoming nothing more than an occasional guest and thus a full time replacement in the big chair is presented to use with Hank Landry played by Beau Bridges and in the field Cameron Mitchell played by Ben Browder. Vala Mal Doran played wonderfully by Claudia Black also has a strong presence in this season as is the move away from the tradition religions and cultures by embracing a more western European and more specifically Arthurian legends and myths.

Merlin Sword, Sword Merlin

It was certainly interesting to see how quickly the last three members of SG1 quickly looked to break away from the SGC, after so many years of blood, sweat and tears you can understand why they all may think they have done enough however Teal’c perhaps more than the other two has accepted a path which is more demanding and maybe just as dangerous, politics with starships as collateral in decision making. As with many of the two part stories within Stargate this first part is laying a lot of the groundwork for the pay off in the second and it needs it, it’s easy to get washed away with all the changes to characters and tweaking of the long established mythology but it will all pay off.

One huge decision by the producers and writers was to make sure the episode had it’s fair share of out and out humour and not ignoring the obvious Farscape connection between Ben and Claudia as well as playing up the concerns over the similar look/style of Michael and Ben. As we look back at this episode and ninth season we know many fans had issues and some never got over losing Jack as a focus for the show or even the use of Farscape talent to fill the gaps. I’ve no doubt the casting of both Ben and Claudia brought in some Farscape fans and it was probably a good marketing move but scifi fans can be picky, it’s always tricky dealing with change and the consequences but we did get more Stargate and is not a bad thing.

Now I know how River felt…

Huge thank you to Brad and GateTechAlfaSix for the audio feedback and everyone who posted on Facebook, G+ and on Twitter, the wrap up shows and poll results were well received and we are now back into the swing of things and will handle Alan’s moving home in our stride. Please feel free to get in touch with any comments about Stargate, Gatecast or scifi in general, we certainly do appreciate talking to people who share our enthusiasm for Stargate and the scifi/fantasy genre and an itunes review/rating is always appreciated:)

This weeks promo is for Aaron’s SciFiDig and next week we begin the second season of Stargate Atlantis, we hope you can join us for that.

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Gatecast 178 SGA Sanctuary

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May 112013

During a routine recon of a world with a space gate the jumper comes under attack by Darts which are subsequently destroyed by a powerful energy based weapon seemingly from the planet below. The team land to investigate but find only a primitive agricultural based culture with no obvious technology but in their midst is a being who is believed to be the intermediary between them and their supreme being.
Is there an advanced being protecting this world either technology or spiritually based is the question and upon returning to Atlantis the answer will be revealed.

Timeshare Opportunity

Sanctuary is an entertaining story but not that original, we’ve met Ancients who while not freely operating in the galaxy do have influence in the physical world, Oma Desala and Orlin have appeared in SG1 and in this case Chaya Sar is the first Ancient the expedition have direct contact with. As with the other instances it’s a case of Chaya Sar breaking the rules of her people and being punished with banishment and the eternal care of the people she broke the rules to protect. It’s a clever idea and punishment and also explains why she took the risk to appear to John and the rest of the expedition, for all her many charges Chaya is lonely and the chance to return to the City was too much to resist.

Well hello there

Sanctuary throws up some good shippy moments as John does his best Kirk impression and Rodney points it out so once again the franchise grounds itself in our world by referencing scifi pop culture rather than ignore some obvious comparisons as others show have done. While we can place the episode in the overall framework of the Ancients storyline it is standalone which is a pity, I liked Chaya and Leonor who portayed her but perhaps it was the right decision, any action she took in aid of Atlantis would have brought disaster to her planet.

We got some feedback via our facebook this week and an audio message from Brad, thank you everyone keep it coming it’s great to read or listen to peoples views on our show and more importantly Stargate. The promo this week is from Trek News and Views a friend of Gatecast and next week we return to Earth for the SG1 episode Full Alert and the return of Kinsey.

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Gatecast 176 SGA Hot Zone

Episodes 2 Responses »

Apr 272013

While exploring Atlantis and accessing some of the recent water damage areas of the city members of one of the teams vanish and their screams echo over the radio, rushing to their aid they find the two experiencing hallucinations and both violently convulse and die. Weir orders a lockdown and McKay reads the riot act to some of the scientist as to the limitations and restrictions when dealing with an as yet unknown contagion but John of all people seems to ignore Weir and her big picture thinking to chase down one of the scientists and that in turns starts another ball rolling. Atlantis itself engages containment protocols and with a time frame put onto the “infection” drastic measures are the only solution and even then Weir is unconvinced they are the right steps to take.

Hot Zone is a story set on Atlantis and draws from existing lore and opens up a new potential long term thread in regards to who was responsible for creating the “virus” especially given that it shows a bias towards the standard human genome. It’s interesting that we get a very definite clash between John and Elisabeth in the story, there have been occasions before which offered this potential but none have been exploited to this extent. Given the events in the finale and with plenty of hindsight you wonder if they were preparing the way for a change in John’s long term status or other more fundamental change, either way the clash of military and civilian was carried through pretty well.

Foreplay?

McKay once again has his moments and his character continues to evolve in the episode building upon the events in The Defiant One, he’s not quite upto the heroic Rodney he will become but he is getting there and we do find out about his sister, more of her to come in later seasons.

Floating in a Tin Can…

Overall an average episode, some good bits but falling short of some of the better episodes from the first season. Next week we are back to SG1 with the Harry Maybourne episode “It’s Good to Be King” we hope you can join us for that. We have some feedback from Facebook and G+ which was most welcome and again we always appreciate any comments etc on past, current and future episodes of Stargate and Gatecast.

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