Daedalus Archives

Gatecast 294 SGA The Daedalus Variations

Nov 282015

A starship appears in orbit above Atlantis, the early warning systems failed to detect its approach and to confuse matters they are getting the automated friend or for response indicating that the ship is the Daedalus, however they confirm that ship is days away from Earth on it’s return journey from Pegasus. The team take a jumper and they discover a carbon copy of the Daedalus however it shows signs of extensive battle damage and no one is onboard, well there are four bodies and they do look rather familiar.

A strange energy signature is detected and McKay discovers that the ship has an additional drive system, he realises it is intended to jump the ship between alternate realities and that this Daedalus is not from their universe. Alas the drive is in a loop and when it’s energy capacitors are fully charged it automatically jumps, who knows how long they “other” team were onboard or how far away from their home they were before conditions killed them. Each reality poses it’s own problems for the ship and the team including a sun eating it’s system, aliens hell bent on destroying another Atlantis and one where there is no live at all on the planet and not Atlantis either. McKay finally figures out that while he can not stop the ship from jumping he can reverse its course and if they survive the sun going nova and the aliens once again they can leave the ship when they reach their reality and let the ship do it’s thing, of course complications arise when the landing bay and jumpers are destroyed by those pesky aliens but not to worry they have a plan.

The Daedalus Variations is a well crafted episode which makes good use of story elements introduced on Atlantis earlier and certainly in the scifi genre as a whole. There is some excellent space combat sequences, really old school dog fighting in and around the Daedalus and again all the CGI done in house both for budgetary reasons as well as showing the talents of the Stargate artists. There is not a huge amount of pressure put on the actors in terms of what the story needs from the characters but we get some good humorous moments and some cheesy ones it has to be said but overall The Daedalus Variations is a solid episode early in the final season of the show.

Thank you very much to Thomas for joining us this week for The Daedalus Variations an episode he chose and he’ll be returning in 2016, this weeks promo is for Treks In Sci-Fi and next week we are back with Ghost In The Machine and the return of a character but in another guise. As always we’d love to hear what you think and don’t forget the Stargate SG1 top ten episodes poll is still open:)

Promo…

Treks In Sci-Fi

Links…

Stargate SG1 Poll…

Poll Daddy

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Gatecast 209 SGA Aurora

Episodes No Responses »

Feb 012014

The cities long range sensors detect an Ancient vessel in deep space where it has lain dormant since the Pegasus galaxy was abandoned by the ancients prior to the sinking of the city. The Daedalus is tasked to investigate and Weir insists that her team go along for the ride as they have more experience dealing with Wraith technology and Caldwell reluctantly agrees. They destroy a Wraith ship which is near the “Aurora” and when beaming over they find the crew in suspended animation although it seems their minds are active within the ships computer perhaps a way to maintain sanity and health for long periods of hibernation. John enters the system to talk to the crew but they’ve forgotten it’s simulation and are busy working on hyperdrive improvements to allow them to return to Atlantis with key information which could turn the tide of the war. McKay discovers that a Wraith is also in the system and when John figures out who it is after continually being arrested and imprisoned the captain and crew finally realise what has become of them and despite the loss of the tactical information they embrace the end and take two Wraith cruisers with them in a fiery display of destructive energy.

Aurora is a cracking little episode, we get to see an ancient warship which is a rather dull design but perhaps it’s functionality is the key for the mass produced vessels in a similar way to the puddle jumpers. The set design however of the interior looks very nice, the bridge is classy looking and once again we see the ancients as being a lot more like us they we were originally led to believe. The butting heads between Weir and Caldwell continues with perhaps an undercurrent of attraction at least from Caldwell, I think he admires Elizabeth’s strength even when it’s aimed at him. MacKay has a lot of fun with his own close encounters and a pleasing role for the delightful Pascale Hutton.

We don’t need a viewscreen!

This weeks shows was just Alan and Brad as a last minute change of schedule meant I couldn’t record on the night which was a pity as I liked this episode. Anyhow we hope you enjoy the banter between the two of them and thanks for the feedback and especially Captmacksto and Island Sirene who left us 5 star itunes reviews.
The promo this week is for The Book Cave and next week we return to SG1 for the The Fourth Horseman Part 1 and as always we appreciate feedback in any form and if you fancy joining us for an show then please get in touch:)

Promo…

The Book Cave

Links…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Stargate TV Spot – Heather Doerksen

News & Media No Responses »

Oct 162013

Well I guess depending upon when the DVD, Blu-ray and streaming options appear in your country the spot could be regarded as TV and just not a movie spot but Pacific Rim is out in the US already and in about three weeks out in the UK. So if you look closely and ignore the bleached short hairdo you’ll see Heather Doerksen playing Lt. A. Kaidanovsky one of the Russian Jaeger pilots which in my book is a step down from Captain Pat Meyers an F-302 pilot and bridge/helm officer of the Daedalus in Stargate Atlantis but what you gonna do:)

Official Site IMDB

Ships of the Tau’ri Empire

News & Media No Responses »

Sep 222013

This image was posted into a Facebook Stargate group and the use of Google I tracked it back to a 3D modeller artist ( RJB ) whose posts on an older forum have ceased to be, the higher resolution originals are now on another forum which I don’t have access to but for now enjoy some very beautiful Stargate ships.

RJB IMOD Forum

Gatecast 195 SGA The Intruder

Episodes 2 Responses »

Sep 212013

The Daedalus is returning to Atlantis without the ZPM so it is well into the third week and the passengers are a little bored despite the events which led to their return to Earth and renewal of their charter to continue the exploration of Atlantis and the Pegasus galaxy. A body is discovered which at first looks to have been an accidental death but things don’t add up and during the investigation another crewman dies at the hands of the ships technology. McKay discovers a Wraith sourced virus infecting the ships core systems which has the ability to adapt and survive numerous attempts to remove it, it calls for help and denies the ship the use of it’s hyperdrive engines leaving them stuck in the middle of nowhere.

The Intruder is a good bottle type show making full use of the new Daedalus standing set which is a modification of the original Prometheus set. This isn’t a cheap show though, there is extensive CGI work use to create the space shots and combat scenes plus some top notch matt work to show us the large landing bays complete with ships and forcefields in play. We also have the lead guest star ( Mitch Pileggi ) being made full use of and Beau Bridges appearing in flashbacks so the episode was making the most of the resources available to the producers at the time. In story terms they don’t try to hide the similarity to the SG1 episode Entity and it’s discussed at length within the shows commentary track but there are enough changes to make a much better story and overall a better episodes.

Humans, who needs ’em.

The Intruder is an episode which maintains the pacing of the second season as defined by The Siege trilogy but allows for a breather with it’s use of flashbacks all of which lays down some solid groundwork for the changes that are coming to the story. The flashbacks were also a nice addition and spell out how they affected Elizabeth both in her success job wise and the failure of her relationship, in both cases they were strong scenes for Torri.

Note to designers, polarised glass.

This weeks promo is from The Anomaly Podcast, an excellent show which is hosted by Angela and Jen and has it’s own supplemental show, both of which are worth checking out. Brad joined me for this weeks show as Alan was in the middle of his move to Finland and sorting out his classes and his new home, next week Brad will be back with the SG1 episode Origin. We appreciate all the activity on the media portals especially the Facebook group which is generating some good discussion and Twitter which is always fun when talking to the Stargate community.

Promo…

Anomaly Podcast

Links…

Mentions…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Gatecast 193 SGA The Siege Part 3

Episodes No Responses »

Sep 072013

The second season of Stargate Atlantis kicks off with the arrival of the Daedalus just in time to rescue John from his suicide run on a Wraith Hive ship, the nuke detonates and removes the hive from orbit and then the Daedalus zeroes in on the second hive and once that is destroyed the cruisers make a run for it but the Darts make a beeline for the city. McKay with the ZPM struggles to power up the city shields as the darts get closer and yep he saves the day. Colonel Caldwell says hello and Ford is found in the water with a dead Wraith attached to his chest, it seems the venom used to prolong a victims life for feeding kept him alive but there have been consequences.

Long range sensors detect another twelve hive ships heading for the planet and John convinces Weir and Caldwell that with the tactical advantage of the nukes and beaming technology thanks to the Asgard and more importantly Hermiod the fight should be taken to the Wraith. The Daedalus lies in wait and as the Wraith fleet emerges from hyperspace, two hives are nuked but the others respond with new countermeasures forcing the Daedalus to retreat and once again the city has to defend itself. The remaining ten hives take position in orbit above Atlantis and open up with their main weapons, the shield protects the city but with only one ZPM it will not last long and a crazy idea is formulated.

We have visitors

Rodney and Radak remove a cloaking system from a jumper and splice it into the cities systems and with Teyla broadcasting the intent to destroy the city to protect Earth a nuke is detonated, the shields protects the city from the initial blast (which also disrupts sensors) and then the cloak is engaged to make it appear as if the city has been destroyed. The Wraith scan the planet but can not find any sign of the city and begin to move away but Ford now changed by the venom in his system raids the infirmary, threatens Carson and John before stealing a jumper and fleeing the city.

Phew, The Siege Part 3 for an episode that isn’t as big on action as the season one finale certainly packed in a lot of story and character elements and not only wraps up existing story lines but begins to lay down those that will work their way through the second season and beyond. There was a very good moment between John and Landey, respect shown by both men and resolves any doubts over John’s decision to put Colonel Sumner out of his misery which always hung over his command, it pays off in the next episode and as the character grows.

The CGI in this episode is stunning more so because three separate groups were responsible including the newly minted inhouse group who will be taking over much of the very expensive effects work any self respecting scifi show requires to make it shine. It was also great to see Hermiod back again in full puppet mode which really allows for good interaction with the actors and one or two fun moments, an irritable Asgard is fun:)

What did he say?

All in all the season opener was a great start to the second year of Atlantis, the show is moving on and now both Carson and Radak will grow as characters, Ford is taking a step backwards but will return and exploration free of the immediate Wraith threat will allow for stories that couldn’t be told at the close of the first season.

Thanks to everyone who posted via twitter, facebook and google+ and we would sure like to hear from anyone with comments on our show and Stargate in general. This weeks promo is from Colin’s Trek News & Views podcast and next week we are back with Avalon Part 2, hope you can join us.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: