Gatecast 295 SGA Ghost In The Machine

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Dec 052015
 

avatar The team are travelling towards a space gate in orbit around a world that has potential for a new alpha site despite the flying monkeys which seemed to have given the visit a bit of excitement. As they approach the jumper starts to malfunction with energy surges and all control is lost, the jumper collides with the gate and without power is entering a decaying orbit. It’s their lucky day though, power returns and they limp back to Atlantis but they can not find anything wrong. The city itself then begins to experience power surges and all power dies except for Rodney’s laptop which begins to communicate via text and reveals that an entity calling itself Elizabeth Weir is asking for help, you know a Ghost In The Machine.

GhostInTheMachine (24)

It turns out that after the fall of the Asurans the last few remaining replicators were from the faction that were attempting to ascend, they found a technological solution which converted themselves into energy but unfortunately it only allowed them to remain in subspace devoid of real experience. Weir went in search of help and came across the puddle jumper and hitched a ride back to Atlantis. The Ancient technology used to create Fran is taken over by Weir and her consciousness is put into the Fran template and all seems well until the remaining Asurans arrive. Atlantis is forced to allow them to manifest and build bodies for themselves with some conditions. Of course the Asurans have their own agenda or at least one of them does and Weir is forced to choose sides and in a final farewell she leads the Asurans through the Stargate to a new world knowing it would be the end of her and her people.

Ghost in the Machine was used primarily to tie up some loose ends and it’s a pity Torri Higginson wasn’t able to return. Michelle once again did a mighty fine job probably more so than her first appearance on the show as Fran. We did get some good character stuff from Rodney and it has to be said most of the characters that had known Elizabeth were allowed some good interaction with this version and Woolsey gets another lesson into what command is all about and how honor and integrity can lead to sacrifice. Ghost In The Machine is yet another solid episode in the final season, drawing on the shows mythology and maybe be design putting a bow on those pesky loose threads and while Ghost In The Machine is certainly not an original plot it has it’s moments and overall works very well.

Many thanks to Miles, Mack, Dan and Levi for the feedback and emails, appreciated as was the five star itunes review from Melissa (host of the Upper Pylon 2 Podcast). Once again thanks to Brad for getting up early to join us for the recording of the show and as would have it a Ghost in the Machine caused the first recording session to be cancelled, we got this on the second try. This weeks promo is for the Dune Saga podcast, next week will be the first of this seasons bonus shows and I’ve not decided which so it’ll be a surprise, tune in and find out:)

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Gatecast 270 SGA First Strike

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May 232015
 

avatar The new Apollo commanded by Colonel Abe Ellis arrives at Atlantis equipped with a weapons delivery system called “Horizon” armed with six naquadah enhanced mark 9 nuclear warheads, fly by data over the Asuran homeworld indicates they are building a fleet of ships and the belief is that their target will be Earth itself so a pre-emptive strike has been ordered by the President, SGC and IOA. The mission with reservations goes well with the vast majority of the targets destroyed but soon after an object appears in the Atlantis system and within a Stargate is activated, the “satellite” fires on the Apollo and the energy beam sweeps around to target the city from orbit and it soon becomes apparent nothing will stop this beam from wearing it the cities shields and destroying Atlantis. The single ZPM will not sustain the shield and even submerging the city only gains them a small respite but in an out of the box solution they drive an asteroid into the path of the energy beam and use the energy from the geothermal complex to initiate the star drive and launch the city. Initially it all goes well but the city starts to stall the shield is dropped and the city once agains powers upwards and as the leave the atmosphere the shield is once again raised but moments from full coverage the energy beam strikes causing damage to the tower. The city enters hyperspace but soon after the star drive shuts down and they are left floating in normal space light years from anywhere and anyone with no immediate means to call for help and with many injured including Elizabeth who is in critical condition.

Duck & Cover

Duck & Cover

First Strike is a pretty epic third season finale and yet has no direct input from the Wraith which seems strange on the surface but it is part of the desire to deal with the Asuran “replicators” and we do get to see the ingenuity of the Ancients through their creation as they deploy a Stargate equipped satellite very very quickly which would in time have destroyed the city if not for the hail mary solution which itself has consequences. The episode also always a soft introduction to the new chief medical officer Dr Jennifer Keeler (Jewel Staite) and sets the stage for the departure of Elizabeth (Torri Higginson) as a full time character for good or bad depending upon your point of view. All that aside the writers and production staff put together a fantastic episode and there is no question a lot of money was spent especially as the episode is very effects heavy, you don’t get to see the city fly that often and well the final stunt work performed by Ky Furneaux doubling Elizabeth was if anything more impressive than any of the CGI. It was good to see the ship builders are still hard at work as the Apollo makes her debut along with her new commander Colonel Abraham Ellis played by Michael Beach and the dynamic was certainly an interesting approach to take but it made a lot of sense, the civilian and military will always be at odds over the Stargate programme.

First Strike is a great episode and gave us a quality cliffhanger as the fate of some characters and the city itself hangs in the balance.

So that’s the final season three episode done and dusted, thank you to everyone who has been directly involved or supported us via all the ways social media allows. Many thanks to Brad for joining us for First Strike and he will be back from the two wrap up shows the first of which will be for Atlantis and that is due to be released on the 30th of May. This weeks promo is for the Sci-Fi Movie Podcast who have just celebrated their 100th episode with a look at Return of the Jedi, great podcast well worth listening too.

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Gatecast 252 SGA The Return Parts 1 and 2

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Jan 172015
 

avatar2 The Daedalus is undertaking a mission to oversee the testing of the Intergalactic Gate Bridge that is designed to use a series of stargates to cross the huge void between the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies with a human built space station at its midpoint. They detect fast moving vessel in normal space heading towards the Milky Way and with some careful flying they make contact with the alien ship which is travelling at almost the speed of light, it slows and it turns out to an Aurora class warship called the Tria. When they arrive back at Atlantis the captain of the Tria and some of her crew beam down and after some pleasantries they take control of the city and pretty much kick the humans out but in a polite way. Woolsey is allowed to stay and act as a representative in the long term hope of allowing humans to return but in the mean time the Asurans are advancing on the city but the Lanteans are confident they will not attack due to the programming preventing action being taken against their creators but oops that was a mistake.

The Return (8)

When the Asurans attack General O’Neill who is currently on Atlantis negotiating alongside Woolsey is trapped and despite the standing orders not to attempt a rescue Sheppard, Weir, Carson and Rodney steal a puddle jumper and use the Bridge macro to traverse the huge distance between the galaxies but pop out at the world where Teyla and Ronon are resident. Together they plan a very risky assault on Atlantis and after the initial attack they gain the support of Jack and Woolsey from within the city and the battle is on with the replicators, will they liberate the city before the star drive can be repaired and Atlantis flown back to the Asuran homeworld.

The Return was the mid season two parter and worked very well indeed, lots of drama, tension and action and thankfully we didn’t have to wait months between the two parts. It was great to have Richard Dean Anderson fully involved in Stargate and it was fun to see him work alongside Robert Picardo, the two of them were excellent together with the bickering and dry humour which only Jack really delivers well. It was a little surprising how quickly we once again lost access to Ancients (aka Lanteans) but once again their arrogance was their downfall but as we see throughout the franchise it’s a trait that hampers humans as well.

Many thanks to Miles for joining us for these two episodes, we had some technical issues which affected the recording but it didn’t turn out to bad. Miles is one of the hosts of the Scifi Diner Podcast which we’ve sourced quite a few interviews from, check the show out you’ll enjoy it:) Since this is rather long episode of Gatecast I’ve saved a bit of feedback from Brad for next week but we’d love to hear what you thought of our recent bonus shows and our look at The Return. Next week we’ll be back with SG1 and the episode Line In The Sand, hope you join us.

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