Oct 112014
 

avatar2 Elizabeth awakes in a strange rather bleak room, the door is locked and after repeated shouting and raising panic a man approaches and unlocks the door and introduces himself as Dr. Adam Fletcher and that she is in a hospital just outside of Washington, when she queries Atlantis and being back on Earth he doesn’t know what she means and claims she was leading a diplomatic negotiation over nuclear proliferation in Africa when she collapsed. She demands to see General O’Neill who subsequently turns up but again like the Doctor claims ignorance of any military program called Stargate or a secret facility beneath Cheyenne mountain, Elizabeth freaks and tries to make a break for it but is sedated once again and soon falls into the regular sessions with Fletcher and his pharmaceutical regime and when she shows some positive results they bring in her mother who has her fathers watch, the same watch she took to Atlantis. We are not exactly sure how much time has passed but eventually she is released and returns home and Jack turns up asking her to return to the negotiating table but maybe the pressure is too much and the hallucinations of a shadowy figure return.

TRW (22)

After relapsing it’s revealed that Elizabeth is being attacked by nanites and is in a sort of coma in the Atlantis medical bay, Carson is trying desperately to find a way to neutralise these small machines without damaging the body but it seems they are more interested in controlling her and John realises it’s a war or will power, her mind is fighting the programming being imposed by the nanites and in a final hail mary John enters quarantine grabs her by the arm leaving himself open to infection tries to provide a sense of hope and direction. In her mindscape Elizabeth is being hunted down by “Jack” but she sees John who tells her to run and leads her through the SGC to the gate and the final barrier, ignoring the threats of the machine entity she enters the wormhole and awakes on Atlantis with a clean bill of health.

The Real World seems to polarise opinion, we’ve had tweets that regard it as a favourite of the entire series and other saying it’s a simple rip off from an SG1 story, either way it’s always good when the writers give Torri something to work with and sideline the rest of the regular cast, she carries this episode with ease supported by the return of Richard Dean Anderson and Alan Ruck guest starring as the Dr. Fletcher. While the episode can be considered as a standalone it does answer an unasked question from the episode Progeny when she was attacked, it made sense nanites would have been transferred over and being what they are be capable of becoming a threat. Overall a solid third season episode but not one geared up for a casual rewatch unless you are a fan of Torri or maybe James Bamford who appears quite a bit on this episode, he’s the stunt co-ordinator but handles Torri with aplomb during her fight scenes:)

Thanks for the comments on Facebook and Google+, Twitter again is the core social media portal for the show with a lot of conversation about the episode and thanks to everyone who favorited and retweeted the show information. A big thank you to Jeff for calling in over Skype from the states and joining us for the episode, he’s getting very busy with his teaching job so it may be a while before he records some more stiff with us, hopefully not too long. This weeks promo is for Tuning Into Scifi Tv and next week we are going to be watching the SG1 episode Counterstrike, hope you join us.

Promo…

Links…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Sep 272014
 

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

Progeny (22)

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

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

Promo…

Links…

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Sep 132014
 

avatar There they were just minding their own business walking into a settlement when the blow darts and crossbows are whipped out and suddenly the team are under fire with McKay getting shot in the arse which I guess everyone watching had a good laugh at but Ronon realises he has been to this community before and it didn’t go well and while Mckay does manage to reach the gate and escape the rest are taken prisoner with the intent to trade Ronon the “runner” back to the Wraith. It turns out the village was hit by the Wraith hunters when they came looking for Ronon and the chiefs daughter was fed upon as well as quite a few other people and the survivors were told to call the Wraith using a device if Ronon returned and they have so the clock it ticking. Ronon threatens to kill himself if they don’t release John and Teyla so they do and Ronon is taken once again by the Wraith but alas the settlement is wiped out but never mind at least the Wraith are predictable, they implant another tracking device in Ronon and Carson/Mckay are able to track it back to Sateda which was Ronon’s home world. The Wraith hunt Ronon in the ruins of the capital city of the planet after destroying the Stargate and Ronon puts up a great fight but help finally arrives and together they kill the Wraith forcing their leader to the planet where well you’ve just got to watch the episode:)

Right where I want you!

Right where I want you!

Sateda was one of the most expensive episodes produced upto that point and you can see why, there is awful lot of location work and guest stars/extras plus a wide range of filming techniques coupled with practical and CGI effects not to mention time consuming stunt work. Rob C Cooper in his second directorial outing really lets loose with his creative impulses and pretty much everything worked, there is plenty of humour, action and drama and the episode does look fantastic. We get a lot more of the Ronon back story which fills in a lot of the details from previous episodes where his story has been important and for Jason himself this allowed him to real do some serious acting and truth be told with his physicality to really show how powerful a physical performance he can deliver.

Many thanks to Brad for joining us this week and the featured promo is for the podcast Resurrection Revealed and the show Resurrection returns to US television later this month. Next week is the Stargate SG1 episode “Uninvited” and we will be joined for that by Jeff, tune in and please let us know what you think both good and bad.

Promo…

Links…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Aug 302014
 

avatar2 Rodney is spearheading the collection of space gates to use in his Intergalactic Bridge network and on one world they detect a small settlement, they investigate and find a healthy and prosperous people who seem to be in awe of one of the townsfolk. Carson looks into the medicinals that Lucius has offered but then returns to Atlantis with him in toe breaking many of the rules he himself devised to protect the city. In soon becomes apparent that Lucius has some sort of influence over people he meets as one by one the residents of Atlantis come to almost worship him with only John seemingly immune to the effect. Faced with an invasion of the pod people John has to take drastic action to remain free and devise a plot to use the information Carson unknowingly gave him and Rodney before he turned was able to define from the discovery of a drug and pheromone that is being used to influence the people. Irresistible (6)

Irresistible has a lot of humour, you really can not go wrong with having Richard Kind as a guest star and while we are perhaps more used to him playing the lovable doofus in this story he has a dark side and he is enjoying the power and influence he has over this village and as the episode goes on Atlantis itself. An underlying issue which wasn’t addressed in the story is the simple fact that at least two of his wives had shown no interest in him but now are happy and willing to share his life and bed, if this was a more down to earth drama and a guy was drugging or severely manipulating women to give up their free will and bodies then no question it would be a rape centric story. This element does take away some of the enjoyment and that is a shame, lots to enjoy and no question the eye candy is off the scale and it’s fun to see our regular characters acting a little different and certainly more open and it’s the first time Julia Benson appears on Stargate before going on to a regular role on Stargate Universe. We didn’t get any feedback for last weeks episode but we are certainly seeing a bump in the number of listeners, mind you I think that’s down to people returning from summer holidays etc and while chat was slow our twitter account and those we follow never let up, lots to discuss and we had some very good birthday wishes for Amanda including a number of fan created and supported videos. Behind the scenes we had a few issues, the whole original recording vanished, that was Alan and myself so the last minute panic resulted in Brad joining me for a quickie recording with bits spliced in to pad it out at bit, Brad to the rescue. This weeks promo is for The Rusted Robot podcast and next week we will be joined by Misa Buckley for her first appearance on the podcast for the Stargate SG1 episode Insiders in which Ba’al makes a rather large splash, hope you join us for that and let us know what you think.

Promo…

Links…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Aug 232014
 

avatar The Pegasus Project is a Stargate SG1 and Atlantis crossover under the SG1 banner and finally Daniel Jackson gets to visit Atlantis and the rest of the gang come along for the ride apart from a certain Jaffa who has another mission to perform in the milky way. Daniel and Vala make use of the the holographic database and surprisingly get the answer they are looking for which is puzzling to Daniel since there should be no way that the database would have records of planets named after the fall of the city. While they puzzle this out Sam and Cameron on board the Odyssey fly to a black hole and seed a gate close to the event horizon and they hope by detonating a nuke it will cause the destination gate to jump it’s wormhole to the nearby Super Stargate created by the ORI, yes this is where Teal’c has gone too in a cargo ship.

TPP (21)

Big, Bigger and Freaking Huge!

The experiment fails but shows potential so they all stick around and try again but on long range sensors an ORI ship is detected and unbeknown to the Odyssey a Wraith ship is closing on them but so close to the black hole they can not see it coming so when it opens up they get caught by surprise. So Teal’c is playing hide and seek from an ORI ship and the Odyssey is running from a Wraith ship but as it closes in on the Black hole it’s systems start to fail and they are able to beam a nuke on board, it detonates and the energy also hits the gate and transfers through the wormhole and jumps to the Super Stargate whose kerwoosh destroys the ORI ship, two for one:)

The Pegasus Project is an excellent episode not only for combining the two shows but also ramping up the CGI and action to really keep the pace high and even when it’s talking heads the dialogue is sharp and witty making the most of the new dynamic between the two character groups, it’s hilarious as Rodney gets talked about, talked over and basically made fun of by well almost everyone. It was also interesting to meet another ascended being who is once again constrained within the limitations imposed by her people, we mention the Q but they seem to have a lot more leeway but more of the ascended when the ORI really come close to achieving their goals.

Thanks to Brad for joining us for this show, we had skype issues so we may have lost some of the discussion but I think I was able to fill in the gaps and keep everyone entertained, let us know if you disagree:)
Also check out Futura Memoratia by Jennifer Foehner Wells, I’ve been meaning to review the novel length piece of Stargate Atlantis fan fiction for a while and since they show ran short it was a perfect time.
Thank you to Mack for the feedback over on Google + and Brad over on Facebook, continued amazement how busy twitter is, lots of Stargate chat and news and well worth keeping an eye on, some great people making use of twitter to share all manner of things about Stargate. This weeks promo is for the Star Trek original series podcast Two To Beam Up and next week we are back with just the Atlantis crew in the episode “Irresistible” we hope you join us.

Promo…

Links…

Mentions…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Aug 162014
 

avatar2 After the battle against the Wraith Hive ships the survivors onboard the captured hive return to Atlantis and well it’s a bit of a surprise for those still in the city, then the complications arise when once again they choose to maintain the use of the retrovirus on Michael and the other Wraith who now exist in human form. An off world camp is created and thanks to their loss of memory the Wraith are told they are victims of a plague and are being quarantined for both their own good and their friends and families. Carson hopes to not only stablise the retrovirus but worse case get them to maintain the dosage of the drug themselves so they can live and not threaten any native born humans. Guess what, it doesn’t quite go according to plan and why should it, the course of action has failed before and is fundamentally wrong showing an arrogance that even the Ancients no strangers to hubris would be impressed with.

One of us dyes their hair.

One of us dyes their hair.

Misbegotten is a necessary episode in the story of the retrovirus and the beginning of the galactic threat which is Michael, come on who here actually think he died when they opened up on the planet from orbit. The episode overall isn’t that great but it has it’s moments most of which revolve around Michael once again played by Connor Trinneer although he takes a step back once on the planet showing his capability to be the master mind and lets others act and draw attention to themselves. We also get to see Christopher Heyerdahl in his Wraith makeup, surprising but maybe this was the impetus for Todd and there was some excellent acting and dialogue between Caldwell and Woolsey, two great genre actors doing their thing.

Many thanks to Jeff for joining us for Misbegotten and he will be back for more episodes in the near future, next week we’ll be joined by Brad for the SG1 episode The Pegasus Project which had issues thanks to Skype which is a shame since it’s a cracking episode. This weeks promo is for the Saturday B Movie Reel and thanks for the feedback on our Facebook and Google+ groups and as always lots of Stargate love on Twitter.

Promo…

Links…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

 

 

Aug 022014
 

avatar Well here we are for the premiere episode of the third season of Stargate Atlantis No Man’s Land and we pick up after the two Wraith Hive ships double crossed the rather short sighted humans and set sail towards the Milky Way with the navigation data and specs on an upgraded hyperdrive, oh they also have McKay and Ronon just in case they get peckish on the trip. Meanwhile Weir is ordered back to Earth to face the consequences of her actions as once again the IOA flex their muscles after the fact but thankfully she has allies in the General and to a lesser degree Woolsey himself. The Daedalus and Orion are ordered to intercept the hive ships despite both being well under par but with Earth as the target there is no other option and the chase is on. As the battle is joined the Daedalus fires all it’s nukes and even though one gets through the Hive survives but as Major Lorne commanding the Orion engages he has to sacrifice his ships shield to route power to it’s drones but is successful is taking the hive down leaving the Daedalus to take on the remaining Hive with an epic stalemate the result but there is one last role of the dice.

Way to make an entrance

Way to make an entrance

No Man’s Land is a gem of a season opener, we just straight back into the drama of McKay and Ronon stuck on the hive but with the brains and brawn that won’t last too long and of course it helps Michael is helping John who managed to get a ride on the Hive when it entered hyperspace, it was a good choice to have his fighter damaged even though in reality he should be space dust but at least we get plenty of fun and games as the four of them are running around the hive ship avoiding some very upset Wraith. The orders to Caldwell and Lorne were epic, they had to engage the hives no matter what the consequences and the visual effects studios did the show proud with some stunning space combat and some even better set piece more refined slower moving shots, the spinning view of the Daedalus and the galactic background is to die for. Meanwhile we get more Woolsey and the IOA but that gives us a fantastic scene with General Landry and Elizabeth which once again shows she can act alongside anyone and has been criminally wasted on the show.

So the decision to use the retrovirus once again, granted not much option as life support on the Daedalus has failed but the consequences will be far reaching and maybe with mixed results for the this and the following seasons.
Many thanks to Brad for joining us even though he was tight on free time and thanks to **ECM** for the excellent five star review over on the US itunes site. Thanks for the discussion over on the Facebook group, chat over on our G+ page and as always the constant banter on twitter which concentrates on Stargate but can cover so many topics in and out of genre. This weeks promo is for Nutty Bites and next week we are back with SG1 for the episode Morpheus so we hope you join us for that and please feel free to get in touch, we would love to hear from you about any aspect of our show and more importantly Stargate:)

Promo…

Links…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

 

Jul 192014
 

avatar Welcome and thank you for visiting and hopefully listening to our Stargate Atlantis wrap up show for the second season of SGA which we finished watching a few weeks ago, this wrap up show takes a quick look at the 20 episodes in the sophomore season and we have a little chat about them, Brad joins us once again but this time right from the beginning. The results of the listener poll for the favourite episode from season 2 are revealed and we thank everyone who took the time to click on the links and choose their episode and in the spirit of supporting our show and more importantly Stargate check out our pages/groups over on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and G+ if you have the time:)

Next week we’ll be starting the tenth season of Stargate SG1 with it’s premiere episode “Flesh And Blood”, we hope you join us.

SGA_S2

http://wallpaperpanda.com/

Poll Results…

  • Duet       8 Votes
  • Aurora  6 Votes
    • Critical Mass                     5 Votes
    • Grace Under Pressure  5 Votes
  • Total Votes 46

Promos…

Links…

Duet_SGA

Jul 092014
 

Here we are with part 2 of 3, an opinionated review of Rising the premiere of Stargate Atlantis. Many thanks to SF Debris

Jun 212014
 

avatar A cry for help from the planet of  Taranis has the team visiting the world which is the site of an Ancient outpost. It seems the ancients built an advanced defensive shield powered by geo-thermal energy to protect the base and the local inhabitants since the fall of Atlantis have used the facility although not to any great extent but with the rise of the Wraith and the ongoing culling the shield has been activated but there are consequences. Rodney while examining the systems realises that the continued full power use of the shield has strained the geo-thermal vents that supply the raw power and the super volcano is close to eruption and by close he means days which isn’t good. While Rodney is working with the alien scientist Norina the chancellor reveals the great secret of Taranis, the outpost was the home base for an Aurora class Ancient warship and it’s still there fully intact albeit currently unable to fly but hey Rodney is close at hand. As the super volcano becomes more active and Rodney finally convinces everyone that the imminent eruption is a global killer and part way through the initial evacuation the gate is lost as lava wells up from the ground leaving the team and the locals with no escape except for the Ancient ship and the hope that the Daedalus can reach them quickly despite it’s limited life support which means they could only take a few people on board as the inferno rages below.

Inferno (27)

Great view, from a distance.

Inferno has it’s flaws but at heart it’s a fun story making good use of the chemistry between Rodney and John and particularly the energy David brings to his role, he really makes the combination of genius and egotistical hothead work so well and add in the awkwardness around an attractive woman, no any woman just adds the icing to this episode. Strangely enough Norina (Brandy Ledford) does seem interested, it may be his intelligence rather than his character but it certainly knocks Rodney off his center where as John lays on the charm with a gusto. The special effects for the super volcano is fairly good, not fantastic but as we see with the “Orion” and Deadealus the CGI has really been perfected for more manufactured objects where as more fluid effects are at that time just a little beyond the scope of a tv budget. The natural scepticism of the Chancellor played by Kevin McNulty rings true but this episode is all about the dynamic of the main characters when under extreme pressure and in that regard we can’t forget once again Teyla and Ronon being paired up and facing death as they become stranded in a local village as the volcanic ash falls.

One again many thanks to Thomas for joining us for Inferno and this weeks podcast promo was for Flash Pulp an excellent source of short form pulp themed audio productions, many thanks for the feedback over on Facebook, Google+ and of course Twitter and next week we are going to return to SG1 for it’s season 9 finale “Camelot”, hope you join us for that and don’t forget we are keen to get people on the show for S10 of SG1 and S3 of Atlantis, please get in touch if you are interested as hopefully as times passes the episodes will be allocated:)

Promo…

Links…

Mentions

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Jun 072014
 

avatar Lt. Michael Kenmore awakes not knowing who he is or how he came to be but is constantly reassured by Teyla and other Atlantis personnel that he was a member of  a unit attacked by the Wraith and was taken prisoner, upon rescue he was treated but is now suffering from amnesia. As he recovers in body and mind everyone treats him well with the exception of Ronon who is openly aggressive but Michael is unaware of anything he has to done to cause such behaviour and his curiosity is peaked. After suffering from a couple of nightmares Michael goes to the infirmary and as Carson sleeps he discovers the “kenmore” calendar and DVD records with his name on, on playback they show nearly two weeks of surveillance and Michael himself strapped to a bed ultimately screaming defiance as it’s revealed as the days go back to be a Wraith! Despite this revelation and learning of the retro virus he remains reasonably calm but eventually snaps after being confronted once again by Ronon and a minor war breaks out and a guard is killed, Michael is captured and taken to an off world base but uses his mind powers on Teyla and together they escape through the Stargate to a Wraith world but they are now being tracked by fellow Wraith with John and Ronon not far behind.

Quiet Contemplation

Quiet Contemplation

Michael is the opening episode to a long running if not overly used arc (for now) dealing with the consequences of using the retro-virus, yes the one that caused so many problems last time and you have to ask yourself if this is sort of some “ethically” acceptable method of genocide because when you get down to it the Wraith as they developed are going to be wiped from the face of the Pegasus galaxy. If you want to put it more simply then the very basis of this plan is awash with deceit and deception and from that would anything really good come to fruition? Now for the plus points, fantastic to see Conner Trinneer fresh from his four years on Enterprise returning to the scifi genre and handling a well written role and as we know a lot more to come but the challenge of more prosthetics is ahead, Rachel also got to push her character as well with some well written scenes between Teyla and Michael again a dynamic which they will exploit over the rest of the show. We had a couple of guests this week, given Conner was joining Atlantis we got Adam and Paul from the Star Trek Enterprise podcast Previously in The Alpha Quadrant to join us for the episode and we think a good time was had by all, let us know what you think and pay a visit to PITAQ and it’s host network Trekmate.

This weeks promo is for the Star Trek podcast Two to beam Up which is looking at the original series and next week we are going to be watching the Stargate SG1 episode Crusade and we will be joined by Thomas.

Promo…

Links…

Mentions…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

May 242014
 

avatar The team led by Major Lorne is believed to be dead after their dwelling in an off world village is burnt down leaving bodies with the appropriate dog tags and then an unexpected communication from Ladon Radim who was one of the Genii that attacked Atlantis under the command of Koyla offers an opportunity for the expedition to get their hands on a ZPM, the offer is too tempting so they respond and learn he is planning to depose Cowen and take over the leadership of his people now significantly reduced after a recent culling by the Wraith. Teyla and Ronon investigate the surroundings and circumstances of the death of Lorne and his men while Weir and Sheppard deal with Ladon eventually coming to a deal but with little intent on honouring it and of course it all goes badly when the Genii sent to collect their supplies are found to be terminally ill and of no use as a bargaining chip for the ZPM. The tables are turned when it is revealed the Genii are behind the “deaths” of Lorne and his men as they are attempting to get access to the gene therapy and by capturing John and his men thanks to the failed raid for the ZPM Cowen returns front and center as mastermind of the whole convoluted plot. We are not done though, even Cowen has under estimated his own peoples loyalty and as Ladon said he does what he does for his people and eventually that means taking the Genii down another path one which may include a more trusting partnership with Atlantis.

Coup (35)

You will die Mr Bond

Coup D’etat is an excellent episode of Atlantis weaving together former races and characters who over the first two seasons have played a part in the growth of the story, we had the welcome return of Cowen after Ladon was elevated to a more prominent role which worked very well adding to the culture of the Genii and taking nothing away. The plot of the story was twisty to say the least but you did have to over look quite a few things yet even after seeing the episode so many times it loses nothing in it’s use of the twist and the slightly unexpected choices made by characters some you know very well. Coup D’etat won’t be the last time we see the Genii again but it is the last time we meet them as a people which is a shame, granted they were a little too gung ho but they could have been an asset in the galaxy wide Wraith conflict beyond a short term supplier of nukes.

This weeks promo is for the Warp Ten Podcast which is a lot of fun but not for kids and next weeks Stargate episode will be “Arthur’s Mantle” in which an Ancient device causes all sorts of problems with added zombies:)

Many thanks to everyone who chatted with us on Facebook, Google+ and over on Twitter especially those who retweeted our links and spread the word of Stargate. We are looking for anyone to join us for S10 of SG1 and S3 of Atlantis, move voices in the show would be most welcome so please get in touch if you fancy coming back or joining us for the first time, all you need is Skype and a microphone so these days that could be as simple as a smartphone upwards:)

Promo…

Links…

Mentions…

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

 

Apr 262014
 

avatar The team visit a primitive world looking for trade and resources and discover that the local villagers pay tribute to The Tower and in return it protects them from the Wraith by means of glowing lights which fly through the sky. They are taken to the tower and it looks like the central structure of Atlantis but sprouting from a large wooded and hilly area of the planet. McKay along with a local named Baldric go investigate while the rest of the team stay in the village and discover that the enforcers of the tower act in a rather brutal manner to the villagers and when they intervene to prevent a whipping a man named Eldred appears and brings down a drone attack. He then scans the team and invites John back to the tower and introduces him to the Lord Protector who does indeed rule the plant from within a sister city to Atlantis complete with ZPM powered chair, sensors and weapon systems. The Royal family and their hangers on live in luxury thanks to them exploiting the villagers and it turns out that the Ancient gene has kept these people in power and it is slowly weakening within the blood line and John’s arrival offers a boost and so the young and pretty Mara throws herself at John and well he’s only a guy after all. Meanwhile McKay discovers a huge store of drones but finds that the ZPM is almost exhausted and while Teyla and Ronon are dealing with over enthusiastic enforcers and John handles a royal coup and murder the world is slowly spinning towards chaos when all three plot elements merge when the new Lord Protector launches an attack on the village and John has to then fight for his life.

Party Time all the time

Party Time all the time

The Tower asks a lot of questions and the main one is why would the Ancients leave a city ship on this planet complete with functioning ZPM, drones and it seems a working star drive. We have seen that individual Ancients have taken it upon themselves to protect humans within the Pegasus galaxy by a manner of means but a second city ship is not something that can be just slipped in under the council’s noses so it must have been a sanctioned plan which still leaves the question open. The story of course when dealing with the attitudes of the people of this world does make perfect sense, there is nothing new there but it’s done fairly well and the village set is rustic and primitive enough as well as the redressed Atlantis looking pretty spectacular in a period style. Lets not forget the costuming which worked well both for the male and female characters (main and extras), I really liked the flowing shirt with the ruffles that Eldred (Peter Woodward) was showing off:)

McKay with his sidekick Baldric was a laugh, Ronon and Teyla dealing with the enforcers and the villagers was quite intense at times and seeing Ronon lose it provoked by the threat of a woman’s rape was both frightening but inspiring, we really saw what he was capable of and combined with Jason’s expression during the fight really hammered home how complex this character can be. John of course had a great time, good food, good sex, political intrigue and a fight for good measure combine to make a pretty good couple of days away from the city and then underlined by the criminally short screen time for Elizabeth when the two chattered in the final scene.

Overall quite a fun episode, an excellent cast with the return of Jay Brazeau to the franchise and the overall production was excellent with action, humour and drama.

This weeks promo is for the Nutty Bites Podcast and next week we return to SG1 for the episode Off The Grid so hope you join us for that and if you have anything to say then don’t hesitate to get in touch, we love getting feedback in any form so check us out on Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus and if you have the inclination a review and rating on itunes and Stitcher would be most appreciated.  Don’t forget that our two polls for the upcoming wrap up shows are currently running so please vote for your favourite SG1 Season 9 episode and Season 2 Atlantis episode.

Promo…

Links…

Mentions…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Apr 122014
 

avatar2 In Grace Under Pressure McKay along with Captain Griffen test fly a recently repaired puddle jumper when an engine malfunctions causing them to crash into the ocean between Atlantis and the mainland. The jumper quickly sinks and soon it’s transponder signal is lost to the scanners in the city and as they sink deeper the integrity of the ship itself is put to the test. Ultimately the damaged screen shatters and take the heroic Griffen to his death leaving McKay trapped in the rear compartment desperate to find a solution to the dilemma of limited power and life support and little chance of being located by his friends. It’s not long before the head wound and conditions have McKay hallucinating but in a twist he envisions one Samantha Carter who points out is the one person smarter than he is and coupled with his attraction to her perhaps understandable why his mind when down that path.

It's me baby!

It’s me baby!

Meanwhile back at the city John and company are devising a rescue plan based on some grappling hardware and the belief the jumpers were always intended to double up as submersibles. However Zelenka and his people have to jump through hoops to try and calculate a approximate position for the search to focus on but eventually John and Radek fly to the rescue and do a passable Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea impersonation but with clocking shields being used as physical shields the opposite of when the city re-tasked it’s shielding systems. Mckay continues to have lively discourse with his version of Sam and soon comes to understand decisions she is making are those of his own logical mind trying to keep him alive but eventually the jumper is almost flooded and hang on is John’s voice an hallucination and if he opens the rear hatch will he drown but does he have a choice?

Grace Under Pressure is in many ways a bottle show despite money being spent on bringing in Amanda and the use of the large waters tanks to simulate ocean conditions, it is perhaps to the credit of all involved such a complex story was told and told well. Yes we’ve seen the lone survivor having to deal with a crisis before on SG1 and the threat of drowning in a downed spaceship again SG1 but this take on those core elements works very well. David is one of the few television actors who could pull off such intensity and claustrophobic story both with humour and drama as and when required.

I want to thank Philip for joining me for the show, it took some organising but the recording went by without a hitch, he has recorded with me before on the episode Trio (an experiment) which again went well and will probably be used as our take on that episode of Atlantis. Big thanks to Misa and Dan for the feedback and a nod to Brad for the recordings which will be used in later shows but for now that’s this show wrapped up and as always we want to hear from you and if you can a review/rating on itunes would be most appreciated.  This weeks featured promo is for The Book Cave Podcast a show covering mainly pulp publications (books, magazines and comics) with author interviews and next week we are going to be looking at the SG1 episode Ethon.

Promo…

Links…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

 

Mar 292014
 

avatar2 Intelligence is provided to the SGC that a explosive device has been placed on Atlantis by members of the Trust who have been infiltrated by remnants of the System Lords. The bomb is believed to be triggered by dialling the Earth address and the next scheduled contact is within hours, Dr Lee comes up with a solution to use a far long SG unit to pass on a message to the Daedalus who can then contact Atlantis without using the gate. Safe for the moment Atlantis breaths in but the secondary protocol is activated and a distress signal is sent out and noticed by two Wraith cruisers but more problems arise with the key to the destruction of the city lies with the ZPM which is needed to power the cloak to hide the city from the soon to arrive Wraith. The secondary story is Teyla themed, her friend and mentor the ancient Charin is dying and is worthy of an age of ceremony which is going to take place regardless of the threat of the bomb and the Wraith. Lets not forget Zelenka who was volunteered by McKay to visit M7G-677 the world populated by children, even the bomb threat wouldn’t have made that job any more appealing.

Cadman has Rodney whipped!

Cadman has Rodney whipped!

Critical Mass is good episode making full use of the benefits of a crossover in characters and standing sets, we get drama and humour from the SG1 side merged very well with the ongoing Atlantis dynamic including the return of a number of characters to have played well to the story and fans in earlier episodes. The threat to Atlantis was a little complex but no question it was clever but you do wonder if those behind the implementation were being painted as too clever, this level of complexity and intelligence didn’t really blend well with what we’ve known of the Goa’uld. That aside the musical and creative aspect of the story was a breath of fresh air and overlaid the more intense and dramatic bomb elements and of course lots of humour despite the circumstances.

A big gold star to Brad for his voice mail and homage to the Prometheus and Ethon and also for joining us this week, it’s always appreciated and thanks to everyone else especially Facebook contributors for the feedback. Love to hear any thing about Stargate and Gatecast via the usual portals so feel free to chat with us and if you have a minute a rating/review on itunes or stitcher would be most welcome. This weeks promo is for The Dune Saga Podcast which is taking a in-depth but entertaining look at the books within the Dune franchise both old and new and next week we are at the SGC with the episode Stronghold, hope you can join us for that.

Promo…

Links…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.