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.

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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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Gatecast 188 SG1 Moebius Part 1

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Jul 202013
 

avatar The death of Catherine Langford provides Daniel with a treasure trove of Egyptian artefacts to examine, in one book he spots a representation of what could be nothing but a ZPM in the treasure room of Ra. Sam and Daniel offer up a plan to use the Ancient time machine to go back 5000 years to the time when Ra ruled over Egypt and steal the ZPM without affecting the timeline, Jack isn’t convinced but he is the best bet to fly the time jumper.
They successfully steal the ZPM but they remain 5000 years in the past when the Jumper is discovered, they decide to leave a video recording in a sealed jar in a known dig site with the knowledge it will be discovered by their future selves and then all will be right with the world.
Alas they have changed events and when the jar is discovered the video referencing the Stargate, SG1 and some of the major events are no longer relevant but General Hammond (1 Star stationed at NORAD) seeks out Sam and Daniel to shed some light on the video and some of the artefacts they do discover.

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Moebius was initially intended to be a series finale and even with seasons nine and ten to come the double episode really can be seen to book end what to many became the traditional Stargate SG1. That aside we are seeing a truly convoluted and magnificent time travel story which is one of the staples of scifi but is often forced to work or plot issues ignored. In this story we see the consequences when things go wrong and how far you may have to go to try to fix things and even then it might not be perfect. If modern theory about alternate timelines and branching realities are true then the odds of perfectly replicating the events to produce a desired result with 100% accuracy would be pretty long almost at infinity. It may the case that like the Moebius as a whole and the Simpsons episode referred to in the commentary for part 2 that close enough is the best you can hope for.

Michael and Amanda must have been having a blast playing the alter-egos being more timid and restrained versions of the characters we came to know and love. We can see Daniel has that desire and stubbornness still buried within him but Sam despite being a very intelligent woman seems to have had her confidence and edge ripped away, who knows how her family life in this reality affected her.
Jack we can see as being an extension of his existing character, he’s happy to have walked away and just do enough to get by and be happy on his boat but for some reason seems to have picked up a Canadian accent for some reason. It was also great to see General Hammond who was pretty much the same just a lower rank and of course we got to see Major Davis and Major Samuels who seemed to be very similar but then in the prime reality they like the General were military men to the core. McKay of course reverted to his early SG1 arrogant self maybe even with added jerkiness:)

Wandering Hand Syndrome

Wandering Hand Syndrome

Moebius Part 1 is an excellent episode and the first half of one of the best two parters that Stargate have produced made more so thanks to wrapping up so many threads in a very natural way, some of the best series finales leave you smiling and believing the characters will go on and in part 1 all the hallmarks of this style of story have been laid down and we have the promise of more of the same in part 2.

We had some issues with the audio (again) this week, I lost quite a few comments which simply were washed out so the show really doesn’t do justice to our two guests this week. Miles and Scott from the SciFi Diner podcast joined us from the states and they’ll also be on part 2 of this episode so if you really want to experience the quality they consistently produced check out their podcast which carries some excellent genre interviews gathered from dozen of conventions. Thanks to everyone that has posted on the various social media platforms and gold star to Brad for continuing his episode comments over on our Facebook group, all the feedback is valued and appreciated.
Next week we’ll be staying with Stargate SG1 with the second part of Moebius and then the following two weeks will be devoted to the final two episodes of the first season of Stargate Atlantis.

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Episode 156 SGA Rising

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Nov 172012
 

 Research in to the former outpost of the Ancients in the Antarctic continues and Daniel discovers the location of the Lost City or at least an eight symbol address which will gate them to another galaxy, perhaps the original home of the Ancients or the hoped for Atlantis. Weir now no longer in command of the SGC heads up the expedition with a military contingent but she has civilian oversight and initially all goes well until power issues forces early exploration of a new “phone book” of gate symbols. The expedition finds friends and makes enemies but there is no way home so exploring this new galaxy is the only way to find Ancient power sources and technology in which to enhance the city of Atlantis and save not only themselves but both galaxies.

SGA Rising is a brilliant series opener, it obviously benefits from the 7 years of work and experience from the Stargate SG1 people both from behind and in front of the camera but you really can’t ask for anything more to kick off a new show. There is humour, action and drama all wrapped up in a very high standard of production making full use of the newest HD camera technology while using tried and trusted techniques when required.

Ok lets not try to be too specific:)

It would be easy to try to mirror this new batch of characters with those that came before them but the show simply feels fresher and certainly a much younger looking cast giving the show a more action orientated look to it but it’s still very much Stargate. Rising was broadcast as an extended feature in the US and Canada while the UK had it shown in two parts, the episode is offered in it’s extended format on the DVD and Blu-ray with a commentary by Brad, Robert and Martin. 

The casting of Robert Patrick as the commander of the military was inspired  he has the chops to do the role without breaking a sweat and carries off the hard ass Colonel role easily and offers just enough to get you involved before as a main guest stars he steps aside for the long term cast to take over. In that respect getting David Hewlett to reprise his McKay role makes so much sense it’s amazing it wasn’t really their initial plan but who else could have played this role and what other character traits would you want to let everyone else bounce off of.

No Retreat! No Surrender!

Many thanks to Jeff for joining us in this uber recording session, he skyped over from the states and really make this episode work well, he will be returning for future episodes which on that subject if you want to join us then just get in touch and we’ll see what we can work out:)

This weeks promo is from Treks In Scifi one of my favourite Star Trek podcasts, it has been around for many many years so check it out, next week we are back with SG1 and covering the episode “Lockdown” in which an old enemy returns. As always thanks for the feedback and discussions on various social media portals, we’re all in the Stargate world together.

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  • Four

The calm before the Storm

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SGA Dr McKay / Dr Horrible

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Jun 232012
 

There is so much fantastic content out there from fans of the Stargate franchise it’s so easy to miss some of their great work and this is an example, nearly 4 years old but first time I’ve seen it.