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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Gatecast 279 SGA Miller’s Crossing

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Aug 082015
 

Rodney is talking to his sister Jeannie via email and picking her brain to solve a nanite issue involving a medical application and when she is kidnapped he returns to Earth along with John and Ronon to aid the NID and SGC in the search. It soon becomes evident that she was taken due to the interception of the email correspondence and then Rodney himself is kidnapped with Agent Barrett left unconscious in a parking lot. Henry Wallace the owner of  Devlin Medical Technologies who have been getting access to alien tech via their defence contracts has been searching for a cure for his daughter (Sharon) and having discovered the potential of the nanites has gone to an extreme length to give her a chance for life. Rodney and Jeannie are promised their freedom if they help and eventually Sharon awakes fully healed but soon after collapses again as the nanites still poorly coded begin to fix everything regardless of the consequences. She is left in a vegetative state after the nanites turn her heart off and starve her brain and she eventually passes away but Jeannie has the nanites in her as well and it’s at that point they are rescued but no one on Earth has the knowledge to fix the nanites before they kill her as well.

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It’s decided that only Todd who has worked with the Replicator code in the past could offer a solution and eventually he agrees to help but he soon collapses as he has not fed for some time. John approaches Henry and simply lays out his options and the still remaining consequences of his actions, Henry sees some redemption in helping to save Jeannie and soon after an “accident” occurs in the lab allowing the wraith to feed and then the work on the code is finished. The nanites in Jeannie are deactivated and Rodney has a heart to heart with his sister and then with John, it’s all worked out ok even with the tragic choices made by a desperate father.

Miller’s Crossing brings Jeannie (Kate Hewlett) back to the show and while the chemistry between the siblings is evident it’s now used to drive a much more darker and disturbing storyline. It’s understandable the actions that Henry Wallace takes, he has the knowledge and resources to offer his child a chance of life and he is going to take it and I believe he would have honoured his promise to release Rodney and Jeannie and turned himself in if honest effort and hopefully success had been achieved. No plan ever goes smoothly and his desperate move to infect Jeannie may have brought some positives that pretty much in story terms meant he could not get out of this with a win, in this case both he and his daughter died albeit the former in an act of redemption which I think we can honour. It’s disappointing that the writers didn’t consider taking John down a deeper path since they felt he was struggling with the decisions he made in regards to Wallace but I guess Atlantis wasn’t that type of show.

We’ve got to thank Andrew for joining is this week for an episode he requested, as always we have to juggle the time to suit three people in three timezones but we got it done with the minimum of fuss and in that respect if you want to join us for an episode please get in touch. The same goes for any feedback on Stargate and our own coverage of the episodes.

This weeks promo is for the Flash Pulp podcast who offer up original audio stories and discussion with a modern “pulp” theme, two or more shows each week so check them out. Next week we are going to be watching This Mortal Coil which was the mid-season finale for the fourth season, hope you join us for that and keep watching Stargate 🙂

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Gatecast 278 SGA The Seer

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Aug 012015
 

avatar2 Teyla and the group pay a visit to the world of the Vedeenans and a man known as Davos, he is reputed to be an oracle of some sort who can predict the future, his visions have allowed his people to remain untouched when the Wraith last visited their world. As they step through the Stargate they are greeted by Linara the daughter of Davos and she tells them they have been expected, an ideal reception when visiting a fortune teller, an alien one at that. Davos greets them and offers his hand to Rodney in an attempt to prove his bona-fides and Rodney is given a vision of a Wraith ambush, he seems to be convinced that Davos is worth taking back to Atlantis to receive treatment as he is close to death. Richard Woolsey is on a visit to Atlantis for an evaluation of Colonel Carter’s command of the expedition so it’s not an ideal time to get a round about message from “Todd” (not officially names as of yet but come one we all know him as Todd) asking for a meeting. It turns out that the vision was a foretelling of this encounter with Todd so expecting an ambush they go armed with big sticks but it turns out that it was a genuine meeting and the vision while accurate was not interrupted correctly, an ongoing issue when dealing with Davos and his ability. Todd when put into the brig offers them a deal, they are of course suspicious but he drops the bombshell that the replicators are slaughtering whole human worlds to deny the Wraith a food source and to stop them then the Wraith need access to Rodney and by providing the original base code hack first used ten millennia ago they believe it can be tweaked to shut down the replicators again, Carter is sceptical but agrees to the deal (with provisions) and the work commences. Meanwhile Davos offers Teyla an olive branch, her people are alive but he can not see where they are except it’s within a darkness and then he tells her he knows she is with child and his vision for Carter is of Atlantis being destroyed by Replicator starships and as he says, he has never been wrong. A second Wraith Hive ship approaches the planet and they cloak the city, their trust in Todd is rewarded when the two hives do battle and they are both destroyed and Todd acknowledges his slight twisting of the deal and provides the full basecode for Rodney to work on. Woolsey is a little ashamed of how he acted in trying to overrule Carter and returns to Earth with a positive report of her command and Davos who succumbed to his illness is taken back to his own world by his daughter, Atlantis is left to await the predicted attack by the Replicators…

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The Seer has some merit in that in brings Todd (as he eventually known as) and while I have no issues with the performances from any of the guest stars or regular cast the episode feels a little flat. It’s rather a pity because thanks to some creative resource allocation the episode has some very nice look visual and practical effects but maybe the simple story of Davos and the Replicator basecode are not strong enough to really entertain. It’s true not every episode in a series can hit a home run so to speak and The Seer falls short but it’s not a bad episode, good production and some good scenes (Teyla all the time and Carter face to face with Todd) yet it fails to really catch the imagination.

This weeks podcast promo was for The Babylon Project and next week we are joined by Andrew for the excellent episode Miller’s Crossing and the return of Kate Hewlett to Stargate. Thanks to everyone that kept in touch and again a pretty good summer month for downloads, it may be we’ve hit the real core group of listeners who stick with us no matter what so a pat on the back and gold stars all around. Feel free to get in touch with us if you want to share any thoughts on Stargate or our podcast and if you fancy joining us for a show then check the schedule for the rest of this season or even ask about the next season, we would love to get more voices discussing an episode.

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Gatecast 277 SGA Missing

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Jul 252015
 

avatar2 Teyla takes Dr. Keller along with her for both a social and professional visit to the Athosian settlement but when they arrive there are no people around and signs of carnage and struggle but no bodies. Teyla spots members of the Bola Kai in woods and evades them, it seems this nomadic war like tribe are feared throughout the low tech settlements but their is a question mark over their involvement in the missing people since they are not carrying the Earth provided weapons the Athosians were using for defence. They find an injured man (Nabel Golan) who claims to be a Genii intelligence agent gathering intel on the Athosians but Teyla is unconvinced however Keller is adamant in treating the man until of course they get captured and not surprisingly he gets away. The Bola Kai chief Omal (Danny Trejo) questions the two women and concentrates on the much weaker and inexperienced Keller who cleverly gives a false gate address and she is returned to her cage and when the tribe run off to interception some people (John and friends) coming through the gate Nabel arrives, kills the guards and releases the women. The tables are now turned though and since he is armed he takes Teyla down and demands the gate address to Atlantis but after being jumped by Teyla it’s left to Keeler now armed to put him down, well she shoots him in the leg and now a prisoner he confesses all but still a question over the Athosians. A running battle breaks out between the expedition members and the Bola Kai but with superior weapons they drive the tribe off and then return to Atlantis where Teyla is given the news or maybe confirming
what she suspected that she was pregnant and the father along with the rest of her people is missing.

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Missing is an episode that was required to set Teyla on a new course which will play out throughout the rest of this fourth season and it also allowed the writers to give us some more depth to Dr Jennifer Keller who wasn’t really prepared for the demands of field work in another galaxy but came through with pretty much flying colours. We know that location shooting is getting ever more difficult so it was godsend to get access to a protected national park although as the commentary said there were restrictions but nothing quite works as well as having a real rope bridge built to film on, no green screen required just good solid stunt work from the two women who doubled for Rachel and Jewel. Overall a very atmospheric and action orientated episode which lays a lot of groundwork and of course the strange tentacled like creature that burrows around:)

Once again our downloads are holding up much better than they normally do when the summer months come around so thankyou to everyone that is listening and still some episodes that could do with a guest host, don’t be sky. This weeks promo is for The Sci-Fi Movie Podcast and next week we are going to be watching Seer which has yet to be recorded, fun times.

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Gatecast 276 SGA Tabula Rasa

 Episodes  1 Response »
Jul 182015
 

avatar Rodney awakes and finds himself tied to a chair in his lab with no memory of how he got there or come to think of it who he is. In front of him is his tablet with a big label attached saying Press Here, he does and he sees himself and the recording begins to explain the situation and one objective, find this woman known as Teyla. Credits role and we when we return we see Atlantis a few hours before as Rodney greets Katie Brown in her lab, she has just returned from an expedition and returns with some samples including a rather suggestive cactus which she intends to name after Rodney.  Katie is feeling a little under the weather so he takes her down to the infirmary where a number of other members of the expedition are reporting medical issues and Dr. Keller discovers that a virus has entered Atlantis.

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The episode continues to flip between the past and present as the virus begins to take hold and the infected begin to lose their memories while in the present soldiers taking stimulants are rounding up the science and operations staff and taking them to a makeshift medical facility in the cafeteria which is big enough to contain the infected. Eventually it’s discovered that only Teyla and Ronon are unaffected and they both try to make the best of the situation, Teyla attempts to find Zelenka who has hidden the control crystal for the gate and Ronon along with John has taken a jumper to the mainland to source a plant that will provide the cure to the infection which turned to be a common ailment within Pegasus.

Tabula Rasa is a very interesting looking episode, the two time frames are distinguished by the over blown look of the present perhaps to indicate how the people are seeing the city while under the influence of the infection and of course they were not shy using the plant mister to give everyone a very clammy look which worked very well. It was also a clever idea to explain how the situation got as bad as it did with sensible decisions being made all of which proved in the short term to be counter productive, it was ultimately a rabbit out of the hat that saved the day and the city was looking to have so few casualties. I personally enjoyed the episode, the style of the production was a highlight and the acting from the regular cast most of who were allowed to twist their characters just a little to reflect the infection as it took hold. Overall an entertaining episode of Atlantis and pretty much standalone although it was good to have Katie back, always fun to see Rodney tip toeing in the minefield of romance:)

I recently read the uber fan-fiction novel Stargate Aschen by Kimberley Jackson, there is a short review of the novel in this episode.

Thank you to everyone that has been listening as the summer takes hold in the northern hemisphere, we know everyone wants to enjoy the good weather and do other things so we appreciate everyone that is taking the time to listen to the show. Of course our continued thanks go to those who join us for an episode and in this case it was a welcome back to Jeff who as a teacher has some time off during the summer months, he will be returning for another episode shortly. This weeks podcast promo was for The Rusted Robot and next week we are going to be taking a look at the episode Missing which has a very familiar face guest starring as the bad guy or one of them anyway, hope you join us for that and please let us know what you think of the show, would love to get some feedback via email, facebook and google+ and the ever bountiful twitter.

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Gatecast 275 SGA Travelers

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Jul 112015
 

avatar John is looking forward to a supply visit to an offworld science operation when his jumper is fired upon, he loses power and the ship is drawn into the cargo hold of a huge unknown vessel. John is dragged into a cell and physically abused and questioned but a guard, a woman then enters and it seems they had been planning on capturing a member of a race they had heard were actively attacking the Wraith using the technology of the Ancients. Larrin the commander of the vessel explains that her people live on ships and travel the stars always one step ahead of the Wraith but time and resources are slowing eroding their fleets and she needs someone capable of using Ancient technology because she has found herself an Aurora class starship which needs just a little bit of work. John plays along but when he gets to the bridge and at the command chair he applies a little acceleration without the inertial dampeners throwing the three other crew members into the walls and knocking them unconscious, John activates the hyperdrive and escapes from the traveler fleet but John has to relinquish control when Larrin threatens to turn the radiation shields off but he has sent a message towards Atlantis. Alas it’s the Wraith that finds them first and the ship comes under fire, the two Traveler men are killed when the bridge is destroyed and then John destroys the Wraith cruiser but not before three Wraith board the ship from a dart. There is then a running battle between the two groups and the last Wraith drains almost all the lifeforce out of Larrin, John gets the drop on him and offers him freedom if he brings Larrin back to health, the Wraith does and flees the ship. The Traveler fleet arrives and John is once again in a cell but he offers Larrin an opportunity to work with Atlantis in the future which would benefit her people more than one single ship and when McKay and company come a calling then find John has been left behind with a tale to tell.

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Travelers is an episode which opens up the fourth season by adding a technologically advanced race that thanks to it’s nomadic beliefs has kept itself well under the radar of Atlantis and more importantly the Wraith. Of course as Larrin (played by Jill Wagner) says without the industrial support of a planet based economy their fleets have slowly been reduced in capacity even to the point where whole populations have had to be left on planets. Their find of an Aurora class Ancient warship would not only give them more living space but open up some technology options but without the gene it’s useless hence the capture of someone from the people that are fighting Wraith with Ancient tech. Of course the episode is also an opportunity for Joe to carry the story which he does very well but no question Larrin is his equal in intelligence and guile as well committment to her people, it’s that similarity between the two that allows the resolution of the episode to be fairly positive. Ultimately Travelers is a fun episode and well constructed and as you may know the Traveler culture will play a part in the seasons larger storyline and we will get to see Larrin again so happy days:)

This weeks promo was for Continuing Missions a Star Trek Voyager podcast which will be looking at the novels set within this part of the Trek franchise, the first episode aired a few days ago with a look at the Jeri Taylor novel Mosaic. Next week we are going to be taking a look at the sixth episode of this season of Atlantis “Tabula Rasa” and we are going to be joined by Jeff. As always thanks for the support over on Twitter, Google+ and Facebook and a big thank you to everyone that actually listens to the show and shares the episode information, truly appreciated:)

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Gatecast 274 SGA Doppelganger

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Jul 042015
 

avatar The team are investigating a very dense jungle/swamp world and John is certainly not a happy camper but Rodney makes a discovery of some crystal like structures that are emitting energy, John is still not impressed but for some strange reason reaches out and touches one and is thrown across the ground. Dazed and confused that take the now “dead” crystal and return to Atlantis where Dr Keller gives him a clean bill of health but as he leaves John touches Teyla and we see a surge of energy pass between them. That night Teyla has vivid and disturbing dreams about the Wraith, her father and John when he was infected by the iratus virus which makes breakfast with him and friends a little awkward. What ever returned to Atlantis via John having affected Teyla takes a bite out of Keller who is unable to save Teyla from giving birth (through her stomach) of an alien bug and Ronon who dreams of an empty Atlantis and then running from an enemy, Major Lorne is convinced John is a replicator and then Dr Heightmeyer dreams of being on the ledge of the tower and Teyla and John are with her, Teyla attempts to help her but John intervenes and the Doctor falls and soon after her dead body is found in her bed.

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It becomes clear an entity is able to move between people and subject them to their darkest nightmares maybe to take sustenance from the emotional energy and hormones created or maybe just for giggles however they determine that Rodney is it’s current host and they trap him in an isolated room and step into the dream using alien technology and together John and Rodney fight the creature in their dreams complete with clowns and whales.

Doppelganger is certainly a pretty episode, we get some good cityscape shots and some very creative work to enhance the dream sequences be they stylised or simple. It certainly a clever idea and maybe not the primary reason for this story in that we learn quite a bit about the characters or at least which fears are at their core, Ronon for example now fears being alone and the betrayal from people he has placed his faith in. It was also clever to have a character death and Dr Heightmeyer was established and Claire Rankin had given a performance that meant her characters death would twist the knife, it also ratcheted up the tension which an episode like this relies on to work. As for the final scenes with John fighting John they were very well do (lots of behind the scenes on the DVD/Blu-ray) and again when push comes to shove Rodney can develop a backbone made out of steel.

This weeks promo is for the Dark Matter podcast Because We’re Dangerous and next week we are going to take a look at the episode “The Travelers” and I make no bones about being quite pleased, a big fan of Jill Wagner. Many thanks for the Stargate chat over on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter, again thanks to Ian for the itunes review and please feel free to get in touch with us and let us know what you think about our show and of course Stargate in all it’s forms.

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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 271 SGA Adrift

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Jun 132015
 

avatar2 The fourth season of Stargate Atlantis sees the city adrift in normal space after her hyperdrive engine cut out, it turns out the Asuran energy beam caused significant damage to the primary power conduits of the city and there was simply not enough energy getting to the engines to keep the city in hyperspace. As the fly through local space with no way to call for help they discover that while the damage can be routed around after a lot of hard physical work the clock is ticking as the city is pumping energy from the ZPM to maintain life support and other functions. The city reduces shield coverage which causes the death of three technicians working on one of the piers but an approaching asteroid field has all the jumpers launching and trying to clear a path, the desperate attempt is partially successful but the unprotected parts of the city suffer considerable damage and yep one of the towers houses a control unit that has to be bypassed. Zelenka and John go for a space walk and while they achieve their goals it’s not without injury. Oh, did I forget that Elizabeth is all but dead and Dr Keller encourages Rodney to reactive the nanites in her system despite John’s vehement refusal as he sites the risk but it’s done and Elizabeth awakes fully healed, she is not entirely happy looking at the big picture but it seems the nanites can not communicate with the Asurans and maybe there is hope for everyone. The hyperdrive capable jumper which Rodney tried to develop when under the influence of the Ascension device has limited functions and the Asuran homeworld full of ZPM modules is within range.

Guy with the brush, sweep harder!

Guy with the brush, sweep harder!

Adrift is great start to the fourth season, while the CGI is a little hit and miss when it’s hits it hits big time and combined with the drama of their escape from the Asurans and the deaths and consequences the episode is packed and I really can fault the overall production. It was great to see John and Rodney facing eachother down, maybe the first time they have had a serious disagreement and imagine it over Elizabeth being saved or allowed to die and a nice touch to have Ronon give the emotional side, that was very satisfying but watching him walk around aimlessly in the background of so many shots was just too funny for words. The asteroid field was an idea that for me didn’t really work but it was an action sequence in an episode that was a lot of talking heads but the simpler tower leap by Zelenka and John was far more impressive, it says a lot that the Stargate inhouse and third party CG designers have set the bar so high. I was amazed John did not recognise the address for the Asuran homeworld and on the surface a covert strike to steal a ZPM sounds like suicide but what options do they have and they do have the ace in the hole if they can trust her.

Thanks everyone for listening to our take on Adrift, we would love to hear what you thought about this episode of Atlantis and our own take on it and if you want to join us then feel free to get in touch. Many thanks to Brad for joining me on the show as Alan has returned home to the Republic for a short visit with family, this weeks promo was for the Saturday B Movie Reel and next week I am joined by a new guest Ian for the Atlantis episode Lifeline, hope you join us.

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Stargate Atlantis Season 3 Wrap Up Show

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May 302015
 

avatar Well here we are again for an end of season wrap up show, in this mighty endeavour (well not really) we take a good long look back at Stargate Atlantis season 3 with Brad who graciously offered to join us which normally means he gets up in the middle of the night, above and beyond as always. Thanks to everyone that joined us for this season of Atlantis (Brad, Shannon, Thomas, Scott, Shayne, Misa, Miles and Jeff) and all those who contributed via Facebook, Google +, Twitter and email as well as everyone who voted in the favourite episode poll.

We’ve included a bunch of promos in this episode so feel free to check them out and next week we return with our Stargate SG1 Season 10 wrap up show so stay tuned because when that’s been released we are diving into the fourth season of Atlantis and all the changes to the show that came with it.

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Poll Results…

  1. Common Ground
  2. Tao of Rodney
  3. McKay & Mrs Miller &  The Return Parts 1 & 2
  • Total Votes 60

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