Sep 072013
 

avatar2 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

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?

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.

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Jun 082013
 

avatar2 The team visit the planet Dagan whose address was given to the expedition by past or was it future Elizabeth, time travelling does complicate things.
The world is the home to a people who now worship the long lost Alterans and consider the ZPM a religious object but are prepared to help the team believing they are the original inhabitants of Atlantis, of course Rodney talks too much which leads to the final not so beneficial results.
Koyla is back on Genii and thanks to their extensive network of spies hears of the Atlanteans visiting the world and launches an unauthorised mission against them both to gain the prize but also to extract some vengeance against John.
Rodney impresses one of the local women but totally fails to spot an opportunity and well once gone it’s gone forever so it’s back to puzzle solving, lots of digging in the dirt and fighting for your lives. Meanwhile a Wraith dart on a one way long range recon scans Atlantis before destroying itself and with the new long range scanners the city detects three hive ships on their way, the clock is ticking.

Mood Lighting Bad Guy 101

Mood Lighting Bad Guy 101

The Brotherhood is a mighty fine episode, we have the Dagan story which as intended has the Indiana Jones vibe with puzzles, exploring, double crossing and the ever present threat from the bad guy but also a little tension and action with the Wraith threat to the city. Koyla played by Robert Davi once again steals every scene but ultimately fails thanks to his lack of flexibility in some areas but he gets away so we may see him again. It was fun to see Rodney being rather appealing to an intelligent and resourceful woman, too bad for him that small window went unnoticed because she has her own agenda once she learns the truth thanks to Rodneys inability to keep his mouth shut or understand why they were helping the Atlantians in the first place.

She actually likes our Rodney

She actually likes our Rodney

We got a voicemail from Brad who is making up for not being on a show recently and a little discussion over on Facebook so life is good but the more discussions and feedback the better so please feel free to get in touch in what ever way appeals. This weeks promo is from The Holodeck and next weeks episode is The Reckoning Part 1 which is technically the first part of a trilogy even though the third episode has a different title.
Anyway, enjoy the podcast and enjoy Stargate.

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Mar 022013
 

avatar2 Teyla leads a mission to one of her peoples former trading partners who have the resources to supply the city with Tava beans a local and useful crop similar to a sweet potato and they need it as McKay is eating them our of house and home, rationing is not in his mindset. Upon arrival they are greeted by Sora and her father Tyrus who with some caution bring them to the local community leaders and negotiations begin with medicine and eventually explosives offered (for land clearing) in return for the crops.
Events take a twist when Sheppard and McKay discover a underground complex which is very definitely not in the spirit of the Genii farming communities and the charade is revealed, the Genii are far more advanced then anyone believes and they use the cover of farming to hide their society from the up coming culling and pretty much everyone else.
Ultimately the Genii are too self centred to be totally trust worthy in the same way as the expedition, neither side would ever compromise enough to make a real partnership work so the events on the joint mission against a hive was only the immediate cause for the collapse of the alliance rather than the underlying reasons.

Hi bloody Ho

Hi bloody Ho

Underground is a wonderful story and we meet for the first time an advanced Pegasus human culture and unfortunately for the expedition one which is strong willed and militaristic, as with many western societies long term trouble is born based on short term trade and more to the point military assistance. Colm Meaney rocks every scene he is in and Erin Chambers is wonderfully deadly with a really sunny appearance both in farmer and military guise, it’s great that we get to see both of these characters and the Genii later in the series. The episode also serves to open up the bigger picture, the true threat of the Wraith is revealed even though they must have had a large fleet to take the battle to the Ancients with over 60 hives (maybe more) the task ahead of the expedition looks beyond them and it’s only a matter of time before the Wraith coming a calling or is that culling.

Tastes like Chicken

Tastes like Chicken

A huge thank you to Jeff for joining us this week, Underground was an episode he wanted to be a part of and when ever possible we’ll try to get a third voice into the mix, if you fancy joining us then drop us a line and while a few episodes have been spoken for (SG1 and SGA) there are still plenty more. We had a little feedback this week via Facebook, a few birthday notices and a bit of news and we are always looking for community input on Facebook, Twitter, G+ and the Gatecast website. If you want to get in touch then you can use the feedback options on this website or visit us on the above social media portals and if you are of a mind an itunes review/rating is Stargate gold:)

This weeks promo is from the women of Tyrion’s Landing a Game of Thrones podcast and next week we are back with Stargate SG1 and the episode Sacrifices as Ishta returns and Teal’c gets a surprise, no she is not pregnant.

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