Gatecast Bonus Episode 28 – Travelers

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Jan 072017
 

Travelers

We take a look at the premiere episode of Travelers on this week podcast, one of the bonus shows and delayed a while so that with Showcase and Netflix broadcasts we shouldn’t be spoiling anything. Travelers was created by Brad Wright one of the minds behind the Stargate television franchise and the show features many familiar actors and crew who also graced Stargate with their talents.

Travelers

Travelers at heart is a time travel series centered on a time of individuals who have returned into their past to prevent a disaster that has global impact, in their time the world and the human race are dying and all their technology is focused on repair the damage done even if it ultimately leads to their own deaths or more accurately their births.

While Travelers is freely available thanks to the Netflix deal (outside of Canada) it can only help but give this opening season the maximum exposure and thus provide the impetus for a second season because after watching the show I really do want to see how the events pan out, it was a pretty good season cliffhanger providing satisfying conclusions to plot elements introduced and opening up some very intriguing options if explored. This premiere episode (also named Travelers) basically introduces us to the main team as they attempt to blend into a world that is very much unlike the one they came from and trying to make no false steps as they are forced to continue the lives of the people they replace. The variety of the group and their situations maximises the story telling options and as the series continues the show just gets better and better as more complexity is added and yes as they change the past their future changes as well. I can highly recommend Travelers to any fan of science fiction and with Eric as the lead his presence really does add a level of audience awareness a lot of shows in the genre would kill for.

Our thanks to Steve for joining to discuss Travelers, at this time he also has watched the entire season and as of yet not really heard a bad thing about it. Next week we are going to doing our Stargate Atlantis retrospective complete with the results of the listener favourite episode poll and then we’re back to our coverage of Universe. We hope you tune in for that and as always we would love to hear your thoughts on anything Stargate or the podcast. Oh and apologies for the fun we’ve had with the website thanks to the hacking and the hosting issues, many a post still has broken links thanks to some hijinks with ftp stored images etc.

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Gatecast Bonus Episode 24 – Dark Matter

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Dec 102016
 

Dark Matter

On this weeks bonus episode we are joined by Ian to take a look at the series premiere of Dark Matter. The show was created by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie who in their time wrote and produced episodes of Stargate SG1, Atlantis and Universe. This Syfy funded show tells the story of the crew of a spaceship who awoke from stasis with no memory of who they are, they do retain their intelligence and muscle memory skills but the details of their identity remains clouded. The ship’s android perceives them as a threat and attacks but is shut down and security protocols purged thus allowing her to serve this crew and to freely delve into the mystery of who they are. As the crew (numbered from the order they awoke) explore the ship they learn a few things and discover some puzzling aspects of what the ship had been doing but still nothing to identify themselves. They do come across an impregnable security door and a weapons cache, advanced heavy weapons and then the first clue as the android identifies the destination the ship was initially set for. They travel to the planet and find an independent mining colony who are expecting an assault by a corporation’s alien mercenaries, they tell the crew they sent for weapons to aid in their defence and boxes begin to get ticked. The crew return to the ship and decide to provide the miners with some of the weapons but once again the android makes a break through and reveals some personnel files stored in the computer, the crew are all wanted for extreme crimes and are not here to help the miners but are the mercenaries sent to kill them!

 

Dark Matter premiered on June 12 2015 on both the Space channel and the Syfy channel with a thirteen episode first season, the episodes in an amusing decision had no name just numbers. The second season premiered July 1 2016 with a third season currently under production. The premiere episode is technically a two parter but aired as two separate episodes and stands alone without any issues, the cliffhanger actually works very well with the revelation of who these people are, well all apart from Five who remains a mystery. The show has an excellent ensemble cast, two familiar faces (Jodelle Ferland and Roger Cross) who had appeared in Stargate along with Melissa O’Neil, Anthony Lemke, Alex Mallari Jr. Alex Mallari Jr, Marc Bendavid and Zoie Palmer fresh from her role on Lost Girl. The series also evolved from a limited run comic book series of the same name written by Joseph and Paul and published by Dark Horse in 2012.

The premiere episode was entertaining and made the most of the mystery of the ship and the crew, the viewers were allowed to learn at the same rate as the principle characters and thus each revelation paid off to it’s fullest. The cast seem to have quickly embraced their roles although there is an awful lot of experience on screen and certainly behind the camera, these days a show needs to find traction quickly and Dark Matter certainly did that. The first season has a DVD and Blu-ray release in the stated but alas only DVD in the majority of markets and it fails to live up to the incredible standards in terms of extras we Stargate fans are used to receiving.

Our thanks to Ian who joined us to watch Dark Matter, this was his first exposure to the series and it certainly sounded like he enjoyed the show and would continue to watch. As always we are grateful to everyone that continues to listen and interact to our Stargate coverage and we know this holiday season means a drop in listeners (we too have more important things to do) but hopefully these bonus episodes will tide is all over until we return with Universe in the new year. Next week we are going to be releasing the Shayne and Alan discussion of Stargate Infinity, yes it’s not all fun and games but then again when Brad and Mike talked about Infinity it was a fun time despite the quality of the show being discussed so tune in next week, share and enjoy.

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Gatecast 232 SG1 Flesh And Blood

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Jul 262014
 

avatar The tenth and final season of Stargate SG1 begins with the aftermath of the disaster at the Super Stargate when the four ORI starships entered the Milky Way galaxy and wrecked havoc amongst the combined Earth, Asgard, Lucian Alliance and Jaffa fleets. Daniel finds himself trapped onboard an ORI ship luckily it’s the one with Vala onboard but also her husband and child, yes Adria is here and quickly going through the younger actresses before we eventually get her in her full glory later in the season. As the ORI fleet invade Chulak wiping out the orbital defence it’s Bra’tac who comes up with plan and by plan a last ditch effort to destroy at least one of the ORI after the weakness in their shields proved to be insignificant for a tactical advantage. Thankfully Cameron is looking at the bigger picture although obviously if this was Earth he may have been the one to embark on a suicide mission but many will live to fight another day and maybe just maybe a solution to fighting the power of the ORI channeled into starships and weapons will be found.

Daniel, so tempted no one would know.

Daniel, so tempted no one would know.

Flesh And Blood was an excellent season opener building on the very impressive season nine finale and introducing a genuine focal point for the season to concentrate on, having a character that represented the threat rather than multiple priors makes a lot more sense and of course good writing to take advantage of Claudia’s pregnancy at the end of the last season and exploit it in a good way. Once again Chulak feels the wrath of the bad guys although once you get the reputation of being a seat of rebellion and independence so then any conqueror is going to take notice:) Stunning CGI space battles which are  imaginative and compelling and there is some genuinely creative set design for the ORI ship marrying old and new styles as shown in the living conditions the ORI keep their worshippers in so lots of precedent and kudos to the three young actresses who played Adria in this episode, they all brought something to the part and gave Claudia a lot to work with which we all benefitted from.

Many thanks to Thomas for joining us for the season opener, he will be returning later in the season and thanks to Dan and Elisa for taking the time to send us emails, appreciated to a degree we can not express:)

This weeks promo is for SciFi Diner and next week we begin the third season of Atlantis with the episode “No Man’s Land” which Brad will be joining us for so stick around and don’t forget to let us know what you think of the show and if you have the time an itunes rating/review would be most welcome but more importantly enjoy Stargate and lets all keep the franchise alive and flourishing:)

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Stargate Universe Anniversary

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Oct 022013
 

The 2nd of October is the anniversary of the US premiere of Stargate Universe which made it’s debut on the Syfy channel back in 2009 with “Air” parts 1 and 2. A change of pace and direction for the franchise but retaining it’s well established high production values and excellent casting choices with established actors, fresh faces and one or two more familiar from roles on SG1 or SGA.

RDA and Robert Carlyle

RDA and Robert Carlyle

As we know the series failed to retain enough of the existing fanbase and generate a whole new group of fans to survive more than two seasons, there are many reasons for it’s failure but for me the show after a stumbling start really came into it’s own in the second half of the first season and with stronger stories and more humour in the second season really gained the right to be considered along SG1 and SGA as part of the family something Infinity failed to do.

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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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The calm before the Storm

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Stargate SG1 Anniversary

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Jul 272012
 

Fifteen years ago tonight the US pay television broadcaster Showtime did the world a huge favour by premièring it’s new serialised scifi series Stargate SG1 to it’s pay audience. I suspect back then this was quite a significant step for the subscription service which underlines how good a product Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner put together not to mention strengthened by the work of Rob C Cooper, Peter DeLuise and many many other “heroes” of the show:)

“Sunday’s two-hour premiere episode of the MGM Worldwide TV Group series “Stargate SG-1” generated for Showtime’s highest-ever ratings for a series premiere and ranks as the highest-rated original movie to premiere on Showtime in 3-1/2 years, according to the network.
It was learned through Nielsen that “Stargate” on Sunday tallied a healthy 10.5 rating in Showtime’s approximately 12 million U.S. households, or just shy of 1.5 million homes in total.“
Source: Variety