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 268 SGA Vengeance

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May 092015
 

avatar The silence from the transplanted Taranin people worries Elizabeth and she sends the team to investigate, upon arrival they found the settlement empty but knowing it was built upon a huge complex of tunnels holds out hope that the people have moved underground perhaps to safeguard themselves from the Wraith. As the team searches the complex they detect a lifeform but then are attacked by a large creature, they wound it and as it flees they find a store room full of dead bodies, they have discovered the fate of the Taranins. In an adjacent room there is a large pod/cocoon and Ronon going walkabout finds the lab with the remnants of carnage and an Iratus bug in a container, having lost contact with the Marines sent as backup they return to the Stargate only to find that the control crystal of the DHD has been removed, they have no option but to return to the underground complex and search for whoever is responsible.

Vengeance (5)The culprit is revealed when her returns to find the destroyed remnants of his horrifying experiment, it’s Michael Kenmore who is exploiting the very technology that was used to create his own circumstance with a true megalomaniacs  desire to take over not only the world but the entire galaxy with his own genetically engineered creatures who are a mixture of Iratus and human. Teyla is isolated from the team and taken captive by Michael who as always had an affinity for her but now views her as an enemy and just one more ingredient to create more of his minions but after running battles, tense standoffs and lots of hide and seek the team evade the horde of creatures and using Michael’s own dart escape the planet and return to Atlantis.

Well Vengeance is a pretty dark episode, Stargate has never been afraid to move past the grey but we get a rather graphic display of the horror’s Michael is willing to impose on his captives. That said he is a creation of Carson Beckett who should probably have known better than attempting to alter a species so dramatically regardless of the threat they pose and it’s 50/50 if the Wraith as a whole or Michael as an individual is the greater threat. We got some high quality prosthetic and suit work in the episode from Masters FX and certainly the lower lighting conditions helped to sell the scenes the acting and stunt work combined with the makeup and pyrotechnics delivered a pulse pounding action sequence time and time again. As always Conner more than delivers a stellar performance, it may be the writing or he may have simply found the style of “Michael”, either way he is delivering a level of calm and controlled menace all the best bad guys have in spades.

Vengeance was a pleasure to watch and yes they made no bones about the casual lifting of ideas from the Alien franchise with their own particular twist of course:)

A big thank you to Shannon for joining us for the first time, a seasoned podcaster who despite some jury rigging was able to get into the swing of how we do things effortlessly. Our next recording will be for the Atlantis season 3 wrap up so the favourite episode poll is now up and running, it will close on the 16th of May so please let us know by voting which is your favourite S3 episode. This weeks promo is for the Voices of Defiance which is hosted by Shannon and they should return with new content in time for the third season of Defiance on Syfy and next week we have the Stargate SG1 series finale Unending, please join us for that and if you are going to give us some feedback that is the episode to do it for 🙂

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Gatecast 266 SGA Submersion

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Apr 252015
 

avatar2The Ancients built a geothermal operation on the seabed and as the jumper searches for it tensions rise, yeah the are we there yet cliche is in full force but not to worry the complex is revealed but Teyla is uneasy, she senses something but no life signs beyond those that came down in the jumper register. She convinces Elizabeth to allow to her meditate to see if she detect a Wraith presence and well the results are not good, Ronon gets a good old ass kicking and there are power outages galore. Teyla is corralled and has no memory of what she had been doing but then the scanners detect a Wraith cruiser on the seabed and now it’s Queen is roaming the complex and picnicking on the scientists who don’t seem to realise the danger they are in, at least for a short time.  The Queen is captured but she reveals that she has set her ship to self destruct, the thousands of years of being alone has caused her to roll the dice for all or nothing and the clock is ticking.

Submersion (30)

Submersion is an interesting episode, it paves the way for a major event in the finale so certainly serves a purpose but seems like it was a little rushed but saying that the redressing of the sets to give us the Ancient drilling platform worked very well. We got some good Rodney moments and Teyla got to see some action and how rare is it to see Ronon so beaten and so quickly, granted he really wasn’t expecting to but still. It’s always great to see how the makeup and effects departments picture the latest Wraith Queen once again played by Andee Frizzell, maybe not as aesthetically pleasing (depending upon your point of view) but certainly a more slimy and aquatic feel, the long shots of her swimming certainly seemed to indicate quite large feet assuming they were not flippers.

This weeks promo was for Beyond the Wall a Game of Thrones podcast from SpecFic Media and next week we are going to watching the Stargate SG1 episode Dominion in which we see the return of Adria, not many more SG1 episodes left 🙂

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Gatecast 264 SGA Sunday

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Apr 112015
 

avatar2 A mandated day of rest and Carson is eager to go fishing on the mainland but one by one his friends duck his invitation and Rodney goes as far as to use Kate as an excuse to renege on his promise to accompany Carson. Elizabeth meanwhile is playing footsy with a rather dashing civilian member of the expedition but her own ethics and maybe doubts push her towards the more solitary position while in command of Atlantis. Tragedy strikes when an explosions kills a young scientist and it’s discovered her own body created the explosive in the guise of a tumor which was created when
she and a colleague were exposed to an Ancient device which was emitting radiation. Carson is unaware he is preparing to operate on the other scientist whose body is a time bomb but as we would expect he refuses to leave the patient to die and the consequences for the turtles are dire.

Sunday (24)

I don’t think we need to say too much about Sunday, a fun episode which has a very dark underside and you really get suckered into happy and fun feeling that Atlantis is enjoying with the totally unexpected results of the explosion and death of Dr Harriet Hewston and injury to Teyla. It was good to see Dr Watson played by Daniel Bacon who had also played a technician on Stargate SG1 and the style of the episode with flashbacks and multiple viewpoints was a perfect choice to tell the story.

Paul McGillion did himself and his character proud and we may look back and wonder if the writers could have done a lot more with the character in the three seasons he was on the show but we’ll never know but at least this isn’t the end for Carson, scifi shows never really kill off anyone so we may just get to see the good Doctor some time in the future. Many thanks to Thomas for joining us on the show, US, UK and Finland scheduling can make things interesting but we got the job done and Thomas will be returning for the SG1 finale in a few weeks. This weeks promo was for the Tuning Into Scifi podcast, an excellent resource for genre television news, reviews and features. Next week we will be looking at the Stargate SG1 episode Family Ties when we get to meet Vala’s father and that should be a lot of fun, we hope you join us and don’t forget to let us know what you think of the episode and Stargate in general.

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Gatecast 262 SGA The Ark

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Mar 282015
 

avatar The team explore what looks like an abandoned space station built within a small moon orbiting a devastated planet, Rodney of course can’t help but start pressing buttons and powering up the stations nuclear reactor. As the systems come alive he recognises an energy signature as belonging to the Wraith beaming device and they find a human looking individual who has been returned to physical form. Herick tells them the story of his world as it came under attack from the Wraith and this station was built to house and protect a few thousands people in storage until such time as they could return and rebuild their world but only one of the storage units is present. Jamus the leader of the project is awakened and explains that in the final hours the second shuttle never made it to the stations and Herick’s family perished, in his grief Herick commits suicide and cripples the station leaving it in a decaying orbit and now no jumper to escape either.

TheArk (40)The Ark is another standalone episode near the end of a season which was strongly arc orientated but despite that works quite well even though you have to question the basic premise of the story and the decisions made by the people on this world. I can’t help but feel some deep underground havens would have been just as secure as an orbital hiding place for dozens maybe hundreds of these storage units for long term survival of the species and allow for more diversity. Oh well, we’ll never really know what ultimately becomes of the survivors but if the mixture isn’t 90% practical skills then no amount of art and poetry will prove the decision to obliterate their world was good let alone practical. The overall production based on pretty much two main sets worked very well, kept it claustrophobic and in your face but I don’t think any character really keep out looking good, even John’s choice to pilot the unpowered shuttle wasn’t a big deal since it should have smashed to pieces not matter how good a job he did. That said an easy to watch episode and The Ark is far from the worse of the season but not that memorable either but Kenneth Welsh did a fantastic job.

Thanks to Mack and Brad for the comments over on Google+ and Facebook, this weeks promo is for The Scifi Diner podcast and next week we are back with Stargate SG1 and the Teal’c centric episode Talion so buckle up for that:)

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Gatecast 260 SGA The Game

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Mar 142015
 

avatar Major Lorne is scouting an alien world and comes across evidence that the locals have a familiarity with at least one member of the Atlantis expedition when he spies the face of Rodney McKay as a centerpiece for the symbol. The revelation seems to worry both Rodney and John and they admit to having been playing what they considered to be a game but in reality was a sociological study by the ancients of young cultures which they were not shy about manipulating, it turns out that the “game” had very real world consequences. Upon arrival Rodney is revered as being the peoples Oracle and his ego is massaged to the max, he takes pride in the progress that has been made but when John’s people turn up and are more militaristic and technologically backward it appears that conflict is on the horizon.

TheGame (11)

It turns out that these two cultures were friendly before John and Rodney began playing their game but over time the more advanced culture was exploiting the natural resources of the lesser and their only response was to increase their military with a brute force counter to the more technically minded culture. Elizabeth it has to be said is not very pleased and really loses it when Radak and Lorne begin playing “god” for another culture the “game” can observe,  the message of this episode is a little in your face but it certainly has merit and truth be told it runs throughout the Stargate franchise. The Game has some high points, I personally enjoyed the chemistry between Zelenka and Lorne and it’s never dull to see Rodney basque in the glory that is McKay but gratifying to see him brought down to the ground as well and in this case John shares much of the blame and fall out from Elizabeth. Laura Harris and David Dayan Fisher were both good guest stars and worked well opposite the main cast but overall the episode was lacking that little spark that would raise above what has turned out to be a very good season of Atlantis.

Thanks to Mack for the feedback on the Google+ page and for Misa for joining us on the episode, technical difficulties notwithstanding 🙂

This weeks promo is for the audio drama pulp themed podcast Flash Pulp and next week we are back with Stargate SG1 for the episode Bad Guys as they team have a few problems on a mission which turns out to be not quite what they were expecting and in time would no doubt prove to be a valuable lesson in the perils of first contact.

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Gatecast 258 SGA Tao Of Rodney

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Feb 282015
 

avatar2 While searching for a power drain in the depths of the city Rodney and Radak along with a science team discover an active lab and terminal, full of himself and in response to a wager Rodney is careless and is zapped by an energy ribbon, he regains consciousness and everything seems to be fine but it isn’t and now no donut is safe as he develops a voracious appetite to sustain his ever increasing mental superpowers which include telepathy and telekinesis. Further investigation reveals that the lab was exploring the means to artificially accelerate the ability to ascend (similar to what Anubis was attempting) and the machine scanned Rodney’s DNA and made adjustments which if all went well would allow him to join those that went before him. Of course Rodney at his best is not 100% comfortable with himself and the mental component is eluding him, without the physical and mental being in perfect sync the changes to his brain will kill him.

Ooops, I did it again!

Ooops, I did it again!

Tao of Rodney is another great episode of Stargate Atlantis and allowed David once again to push Rodney into areas of this psyche and personal interaction he has never been at one with, the joys of his superpowers as you would expect make his day but the realisation that he may not be ready and ultimately die causes him to look inward and try to address some of his shortfalls helped by John in particular but the understanding from people who are his friends despite how he may have treated them in the past. One thing this episode really gets right is the cinematography, the episode looks fantastic despite so many scenes shot in restricted lighting, all credit to the director and his DP ( Michael C. Blundell ) for making the HD presentation of the episode so stunning. I personally really enjoy the Tao Of Rodney but it does get some mixed reviews but I think overall the episode has a very strong position in the third season of the show especially given it’s standalone nature.

Many thanks to Brad for joining us this week and the podcast promo we chose to include was for the Sci-Fi Movie Podcast a fantastic weekly show that reviews and discusses all manner of movies in the genre we all have a passion for. Next weeks show will be taking a look at the SG1 episode Bounty and the ups and downs of a High School reunion when intergalactic bounty hunters are hot on the trail of SG1, hope you join us for that and don’t forget to let us know what you think of our show and Stargate, thanks to Mack for commenting on last weeks episode over on our Google+ page.

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Gatecast 256 SGA Irresponsible

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Feb 142015
 

avatar2 Tales of a mighty hero and defender of a community reach Atlantis and the team go to investigate but it turns out to be not quite as advertised and they are greeted by a previous acquaintance who once again proves to be a bit of a handful until another old friend turns up and the stakes escalate to a life and death scenario. Yes folks the return of Lucius played by Richard Kind is greeted with dismay by John and the rest of the team but it seems at least on the surface he has earned his reputation and the support of the people of the community he protects but a little digging reveals while it may have initially been above board Lucius is manipulating events to maintain his position. Things start to go badly wrong when the Genii mercenaries Lucius is paying off turn on him and call in Kolya who with Atlantis in plan is only to happy to stir things up and after expertly negating the Ancient shielding technology used by Lucius he engineers a trap and captures everyone except John and once again the duel between the two men plays out but this time to the long awaited conclusion, blood has to be spilt.

Irresponsible (40)

Irresponsible is an episode which relies on the audiences attraction to a guest star and in this case two guest stars with Richard Kind bringing the comedy with Lucius and Robert Davi the threat with Commander Kolya. While the episode goes for the western feeling the loss of the primary shooting locations meant that the scope of the episode was reduced with much of the action focused on a very small piece of real estate. I think a lot of shots would have benefitted from a more open plan location in which to emulate the good guy versus bad guy showdown which was used to put the episode to bed. That aside it looked great and was most satisfying but this more than many episodes will live or die on your own view of Lucius and/or Kolya.

Thanks to everyone that has kept us busy and entertained on Twitter, the plus ones, shares and likes over on Facebook and G+ are great but we would love to hear more direct feedback for the episodes, don’t be shy let us know what you think about Stargate and our look at the episodes. This weeks promo was for the Babylon Project podcast and next week we are going to take a look at the Stargate SG1 episode The Shroud and the return of Daniel to the final season after taking a few episodes off, should be fun.

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Gatecast 254 SGA Echoes

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Jan 312015
 

avatar Teyla begins to experience strange visions of a woman walking around the city speaking an unknown language, she then begins to see a badly burnt man emerge from a transporter and soon the visions spread to other members of the expedition. Meanwhile McKay is delighted to see his friend “Sam” the alien whale that saved him when his jumper crashed in the ocean but as more and more of these creatures surround the city and the visions begin to have serious effects on the population the two curiosities seem to point to an even more cataclysmic event on the horizon.

I Spy

I Spy

Echoes is a top notch episode in terms of it’s production making full use of the existing city, jumper and Daedalus sets with some very impressive CGI both in space and in the water which really shows how talented and advanced that aspect of the show has become over the years, it really does rival the best tv has to offer if not leading the pack. Echoes is an interesting little tale which makes full use of the city as a location for a story with mysteries and secrets awaiting revelation. We also get the usual healthy dose of humour in what is a rather threatening situation but Ronon snoring and of course the pigeon discussion:) Many thanks to Thomas for joining us on the show, we were fortunate to have him available when he isn’t working and the timezone becomes practical and he’ll return for a few more Atlantis and SG1 episodes in the near future. This weeks promo is for Tuning Into SciFi TV and next week we are back with SG1 for the alternate reality episode The Road Not Taken and as always we would love to hear what you think of our show discussion and Stargate in general, Stargate Forever.

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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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SF Debris – A Stargate Opinionated Review

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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:)

Gatecast 249 SGA Phantoms

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Nov 222014
 

avatar2 The Atlantis team follow in the footsteps of unit led by Major Leonard who has failed to maintain contact with the city, they find the dead bodies of some Genii soldiers as well as what appears to be a Wraith device emitting a mysterious signal and unfortunately nearby the dead SG team who it seems may have killed each other at least by the evidence of a video camera found at the scene. Rodney believes the alien device is capable of influencing the minds of those nearby but was damaged by the Genii and soon the reality for some members of the team begins to warp causing Ronon to see Wraith and John to believe he is back on activity duty in the middle east and as for Carson…

Phantoms (25)

He Shot Me!

Phantoms is a good action orientated episode and a side step away from the main season three arcs and while it doesn’t quite hit the quality targets we’ve come to expect it certainly has a lot going for it with some great cinematography and clever use of visual styles to aid in the story telling. Truth be told even with all the death there is quite a bit of dark humour in the episode something Stargate has always done well considering it’s family friendly leanings and yes McKay gets himself shot once again:)

So how great was it to have both of the original podcasts hosts back on the show?

It was good to have Scott return to the Gatecast here by meeting his one episode a year quota and I think given the right encouragement we can get him back for some more episodes next year and that invitation is of course open to anyone that wants to join us for a show, were close to wrapping up SG1 but lots of Atlantis over the next year and a bit then Universe and of course a few bonus shows along the way. It was a lot of fun to see how Twitter exploded last week, Dan seemed to be a very popular guest to have on the show so make a note to have him  back sooner rather than later but that aside we didn’t get any direct feedback but never mind the episode was a lot of fun to do. This weeks promo is for the Flash Pulp Podcast a show the presents short form audio drama and next week we will be looking at the Stargate SG1 episode The Quest.

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Gatecast 247 SGA McKay and Mrs Miller

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Nov 082014
 

avatar Jeannie Miller aka Jeannie McKay has an epiphany while playing with her daughter, with a background in maths and physics she creates a theory to explain the process of bridging universes / realities and with the encouragement of her husband (Kaleb) sends it off for oversight and it comes to the attention of Stargate Command and Sam Carter who knows they could solve the problem of energy generation a problem Rodney McKay had been working on. Despite a four year estrangement Rodney goes to visit his sister and the only way to convince her to help is to beam her aboard the Daedalus and prove to her there is a benefit in spending time away from her family and Kaleb agrees so off to Atlantis they go. On arrival Zelenka has built the prototype machine thanks to the information being sent to the city from the ship and once activated it all seems to be working fine until late one evening the energy spikes a man appears inside the chamber who looks remarkably like Rodney.

MrsMiller (26)

It turns out that although it was a slim chance they have broken through to a populated universe and the exotic particles being generated as a by product of this “bridge” will tear that realm apart, they agree to turn it off but it turns out it won’t be that easy as the threat to both universes builds when the other side takes pro-active action, the solution is to use a massive amount of energy to disrupt the bridge which could mean depleting the ZPM but it has to be done and maybe at the last second “Rod” will be able to return to his world.

McKay and Mrs Miller is a very good episode of Atlantis, it makes full use of the guest appearances from within the Stargate family as well as bringing in Kate Hewlett to play Jeannie, Kate is David’s real life sister so the chemistry between them on screen was perfection, you could almost believe the reconciliation the two characters go through was part of their real lives. Kaleb played by Brendan Gall was good character, patience of a saint when dealing with his wife’s family and their daughter played by Madison Bell was too cute to mention:) The beauty of this episode of course is the production side in giving us two David Hewlett’s on screen at the same time using a number of different techniques, David then went to town bringing to life “Rod” his alternate self and developing a whole new social dynamic within Atlantis and the rest of the cast can be credited for seamlessly playing off both characters so well, kudos to Martin Gero for such a great script.

Many thanks to Shayne for joining us this week, another guest from Australia which required the usual hoop jumping to get three global time zones to sync and make the recording not just possible but practical:)

We got some feedback for last weeks episode but I finished the edit early this week so I include it next week but as always a great time is had over on twitter and the Stargate community we are part of, so much fun and creativity being shared with the only thing lacking is more direct feedback for our show, we’d certainly love to hear from you so don’t be shy, contact forms and social media options are just a click away. This weeks featured promo was for Nutty Bites a geek friendly podcast hosted by Nuchtchas with some of her friends discussing topics that cover all manner of things we love, give her show a go. Next week we will be taking a look at the Stargate SG1 episode Company of Thieves with a first time guest, stayed tuned.

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Far Horizons Review

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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.

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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

 

Gatecast 245 SGA Common Ground

 Episodes  No Responses »
Oct 252014
 

avatar The team are ambushed when following up on some information provided by a Genii contact and John is captured by Koyla who then calls Atlantis and offers to trade John for Ladon Radim the current leader of the Genii who he believes betrayed him. Koyla proceeds to torture John by allowing a capture Wraith to feed upon him but what he doesn’t expect is that the two prisoners will form a bond and when the opportunity appears together they fight their way to freedom. Meanwhile Ladon has been investigating the leak of the Atlantis codes and uncovered Koyla’s supporters in his military and provides the location of John and a rescue mission is launched which arrives just in time to reveal an unknown ability of the Wraith.

CommonGround (9)

Common Ground is a very important episode in the third season as it once again brings back Koyla played by Robert Davi but also introduces us to a Wraith who will become a recurring character and a major player in shaping the Pegasus galaxy both with and against Atlantis, Christopher Heyerdahl returns to the franchise once again playing the new character “Todd” as the Wraith. There is a quite a bit of drama and suspense in this story, not knowing of the Wraith ability to give life energy has you wondering exactly where John’s torture will eventually lead and while death is not always a final thing in scifi neither is killing off main characters for both story and behind the scenes reasons. Ladon (Ryan Robbins) made a welcome return to the show and as we mentioned it was beginning to feel a little like a Sanctuary episode and no question that the casting department and producers went to town to make sure this episode had top notch guest stars which paid off.

We got plenty of tweets and retweets for this episodes and quite a few likes and plus ones but as always we would love to hear comments and feedback in a more direct fashion, emails and voicemails but we are always grateful for any support of the show and more importantly Stargate which despite the reservations of the studios continues to have huge fan support. This weeks promo is for Pulp Audio Weekly and next week we are going to be covering the Stargate SG1 episode Memento Mori so we hope you join us for that and if you do want to get in touch then click on any of the links on this site, we know each method has it’s appeal in this social media world.

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