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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Gatecast 272 SGA Lifeline

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Jun 202015
 

avatar Atlantis continues to drift aimlessly through space after damage from the Asuran energy weapon ruptured her primary power conduits however a wild and crazy idea was dreamt up to raid the Asuran homeworld for a ZPM which would allow the city to engage it’s hyperspace engines and make it to it’s new home. Elizabeth along with Rodney, John and Ronon use the enhanced jumper and infiltrate the Asuran city and remarkably steal a ZPM but instead of getting out clean they discover a way to turn on the core component of the replicator code which was designed to provoke them to attack the Wraith. As the infiltrate the core of the city they are discovered and Elizabeth enters into the fray and she attacks Oberoth directly, her nanites against his and the dance begins.

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Lifeline was a fitting conclusion to Elizabeth’s time on Atlantis, there was never a doubt she would sacrifice herself for her people and here she demonstrates it and it wasn’t by accident, she knew this was always going to be a possibility and she bought the lives of her people with her own. Jack would have been proud and maybe that was the only story/character element I would have liked to have seen explored in what was an epic three part story. We had a little bit of Dr Lee who as always was a laugh and of course we see the Apollo in action without Asgard beam weapons, maybe it’s awaiting retrofitting and has to make do with missiles and railguns but it put up a good display against the unknown spec of the Asuran warship which looked like a jumper on steroids (at least to me). Of course you had to laugh when the writes made sure the hyperspace capable jumper was not going to be monkey on their back when writing new episodes, they learnt their lesson from the beaming technology.

A big thankyou to Ian for joining me for this show, this was his first time on the podcast although he interacts a lot via twitter and is patiently going through our entire back catalogue which is an impressive task in itself, I know I’ve done the same for other podcasts which I’ve started listening to after they have been around a while. This weeks promo is for Under The Dome Radio which covers the tv series Under The Dome which returns to US screens on the 25th of June and next week we are taking a look at the third episode in this season of Atlantis “Reunion”.

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Gatecast 241 SGA Progeny

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Sep 272014
 

avatar Atlantis is surprised when they make contact with a world which is obviously advanced and the people are using Ancient technologies, initial doubts are repressed when they are invited to visit if their intentions are friendly so Elizabeth gears up hoping for a productive first contact with a people who could truly aid Atlantis. On arrival they find a duplicate of the gate room but behind the Stargate the building goes on into the distance, an inspiring example of Ancient design and construction made more significant by the friendly greeting of Niam and his companions. He confirms that they build their own ZPM units and that they are or at least were part of the Ancient civilisation before the fall and the dominance of the Wraith but they had removed themselves from that conflict and have been at peace. The leader of these Asurans doesn’t seem overly friendly despite being polite but it’s obvious things are not quite as they seem and when Weir confirms they are from the city of Atlantis they are taken prisoner and mentally interrogated using highly advanced technology which when revealed explains quite a bit.

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Progeny is a pivotal episode of the third season, it not only adds to the overall Wraith arc which may at this point be getting a little stale even with the addition of Michael but also ties in some elements from SG1 despite there not being a direct link but we know a lot about how this type of lifeform operates but this time the Stargate personnel are dealing with a very centralised and goal orientated society. It’s curious that the aggression built into the replicators was never removed, it’s a stretch to believe the creators of the machines were never in a position to remove the threat of violence although we know the Ancients were arrogant so perhaps they never questioned the strength of the code which prevented the machines from attacking them. That arrogance also explains why they chose to bombard the replicator city despite the extreme odds of destroying every piece of technology but from that perspective you can understand the attitude of Oberoth ( David Ogden Stiers ). It was also a nice touch to have some of the replicators looking at the Ancients and Ascension as a goal for themselves, yes a lot more of their creators it seems was passed over then was intended and that level of desire and hope is why Niam and his friends help the team and why it is such a betrayal and manipulation even before the Asurans fight back.

Overall Progeny is every bit as good as it has to be being used as the first piece of a new arc within the third season of Atlantis, excellent guest stars and some very good use of existing sets, CGI and matt extensions to bring the huge city of the Asurans alive. This weeks promo is for The Warp Ten Podcast and next week we return to SG1 for the episode 200 which will feature Alan along with Thomas and Adriana, hope you join us for that and don’t forget if you have a minute leave us an itunes or stitcher review and rating and as always we would love to know what you think of our show and Stargate in general so feedback is most welcome.

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