Gatecast 280 SGA This Mortal Coil

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Aug 152015
 

avatar Atlantis is in a bit of a pickle thanks to McKay and some work on the Stargate which has left them without it’s use for a week now, it gets worse when some sort of probe/device smashes into the city in a smouldering ruin. Scans of the object are inconclusive but as Mckay and Zelenka investigate Rodney is sure he saw evidence of Replicator coding but Zelenka claims he saw nothing. Not long after the object destroys itself and with the laptop also destroyed their is no evidence of anything. John while training with Ronon gets injured and goes to the infirmary where Kellar proclaims there is no damage to his face and the blood must have been on the towel in the first place, John is suspicious and gets a full body scan which is negative and then requests a blood test just in case, Keller reluctantly agrees. This test is also clear but John knows something is wrong and Teyla and Ronon begin to share his feelings, the corner McKay in a lab and cut his hand, it heals itself and his amazement and shock is enough to convince them that whatever is going on they are not part of it and therefore can trust each other. They discover the main computer has no records for John’s scans and tests so they devise a plan to get John and Teyla to the infirmary to do another scan and while they are revealing that John is full of nanites Ronon and Rodney track down another lifeform which turns out to be Elizabeth Weir. At that point Keller and Lorne appear armed and reveal that Atlantis and everyone in it are a construct albeit John, Rodney, Ronon, Elizabeth and Teyla are biologic replications of their alternate selves created by nanites. It turns out that this faction of Asurans are still eager to ascend like their creators and have broken away from the main body of the replicator society but the experiment has failed and the forces of Oberoth have found them and warships begin firing on the city and the five human forms barely escape in a cloaked jumper.

They arrive on a world where an SG team have a base and ring home, the “original” team visit the world and meet their counterparts, McKay is absolutely delighted even more so when he learns of a piece of tech which can be used to track Asuran warships throughout the Pegasus galaxy but time is short and the two Asuran warships begin to fire on the location of the camp, one team flee via the jumper acting as a distraction while the other gates to Atlantis and learns exactly how many ships the Asurans have rampaging around the galaxy.

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This Mortal Coil is the mid-season finale for the fourth season and in the grand tradition has a pretty solid cliffhanger which had the audience on the edge of their seat for the month or so between this and the second part of the two parter “Be All My Sins Remembered”. The twist that is hinted at pretty quickly is very satisfying and has ties to story arcs which began when the expedition first met the Asurans and maybe even further if you factor in the appeal to so many of ascension. Truth be told Keller played by Jewel Staite came across very strange, stunted delivery of lines which made sense when it was revealed she wasn’t the real Keller and the Asuran mimicking her only had limited information on her patterns of behaviour whereas other people in the city were more filled out and acted more like their other selves. It’s never going to get old to see Rodney get all excited about meeting someone as good as himself and well only a copy could ever measure up but this counterpart was even better than Rod from the other universe, happy as clams until the whole question of their futures were addressed by killing these copies off in a valiant and successful diversion. In many ways it was a very good episode and story for Elizabeth to make another appearance, some good scenes especially with John but alas only one more guest spot for Torri in the series.

Overall This Mortal Coil was an excellent episode of Stargate Atlantis and if anything the second part is even better which we’ll be covering next week so we hope you join us for that and feel free to let us know what you think of this episode and the show. You can find us on Facebook and Google + as well as Twitter (links upper right hand side of this website) and we are also carried on itunes and Stitcher Internet Radio, reviews and ratings are most welcome. This weeks promo is for Nutty Bites podcast, Nuchtchas is releasing a new show for each day of the month:)

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Gatecast 279 SGA Miller’s Crossing

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Aug 082015
 

Rodney is talking to his sister Jeannie via email and picking her brain to solve a nanite issue involving a medical application and when she is kidnapped he returns to Earth along with John and Ronon to aid the NID and SGC in the search. It soon becomes evident that she was taken due to the interception of the email correspondence and then Rodney himself is kidnapped with Agent Barrett left unconscious in a parking lot. Henry Wallace the owner of  Devlin Medical Technologies who have been getting access to alien tech via their defence contracts has been searching for a cure for his daughter (Sharon) and having discovered the potential of the nanites has gone to an extreme length to give her a chance for life. Rodney and Jeannie are promised their freedom if they help and eventually Sharon awakes fully healed but soon after collapses again as the nanites still poorly coded begin to fix everything regardless of the consequences. She is left in a vegetative state after the nanites turn her heart off and starve her brain and she eventually passes away but Jeannie has the nanites in her as well and it’s at that point they are rescued but no one on Earth has the knowledge to fix the nanites before they kill her as well.

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It’s decided that only Todd who has worked with the Replicator code in the past could offer a solution and eventually he agrees to help but he soon collapses as he has not fed for some time. John approaches Henry and simply lays out his options and the still remaining consequences of his actions, Henry sees some redemption in helping to save Jeannie and soon after an “accident” occurs in the lab allowing the wraith to feed and then the work on the code is finished. The nanites in Jeannie are deactivated and Rodney has a heart to heart with his sister and then with John, it’s all worked out ok even with the tragic choices made by a desperate father.

Miller’s Crossing brings Jeannie (Kate Hewlett) back to the show and while the chemistry between the siblings is evident it’s now used to drive a much more darker and disturbing storyline. It’s understandable the actions that Henry Wallace takes, he has the knowledge and resources to offer his child a chance of life and he is going to take it and I believe he would have honoured his promise to release Rodney and Jeannie and turned himself in if honest effort and hopefully success had been achieved. No plan ever goes smoothly and his desperate move to infect Jeannie may have brought some positives that pretty much in story terms meant he could not get out of this with a win, in this case both he and his daughter died albeit the former in an act of redemption which I think we can honour. It’s disappointing that the writers didn’t consider taking John down a deeper path since they felt he was struggling with the decisions he made in regards to Wallace but I guess Atlantis wasn’t that type of show.

We’ve got to thank Andrew for joining is this week for an episode he requested, as always we have to juggle the time to suit three people in three timezones but we got it done with the minimum of fuss and in that respect if you want to join us for an episode please get in touch. The same goes for any feedback on Stargate and our own coverage of the episodes.

This weeks promo is for the Flash Pulp podcast who offer up original audio stories and discussion with a modern “pulp” theme, two or more shows each week so check them out. Next week we are going to be watching This Mortal Coil which was the mid-season finale for the fourth season, hope you join us for that and keep watching Stargate 🙂

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Gatecast 277 SGA Missing

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Jul 252015
 

avatar2 Teyla takes Dr. Keller along with her for both a social and professional visit to the Athosian settlement but when they arrive there are no people around and signs of carnage and struggle but no bodies. Teyla spots members of the Bola Kai in woods and evades them, it seems this nomadic war like tribe are feared throughout the low tech settlements but their is a question mark over their involvement in the missing people since they are not carrying the Earth provided weapons the Athosians were using for defence. They find an injured man (Nabel Golan) who claims to be a Genii intelligence agent gathering intel on the Athosians but Teyla is unconvinced however Keller is adamant in treating the man until of course they get captured and not surprisingly he gets away. The Bola Kai chief Omal (Danny Trejo) questions the two women and concentrates on the much weaker and inexperienced Keller who cleverly gives a false gate address and she is returned to her cage and when the tribe run off to interception some people (John and friends) coming through the gate Nabel arrives, kills the guards and releases the women. The tables are now turned though and since he is armed he takes Teyla down and demands the gate address to Atlantis but after being jumped by Teyla it’s left to Keeler now armed to put him down, well she shoots him in the leg and now a prisoner he confesses all but still a question over the Athosians. A running battle breaks out between the expedition members and the Bola Kai but with superior weapons they drive the tribe off and then return to Atlantis where Teyla is given the news or maybe confirming
what she suspected that she was pregnant and the father along with the rest of her people is missing.

Missing (15)

Missing is an episode that was required to set Teyla on a new course which will play out throughout the rest of this fourth season and it also allowed the writers to give us some more depth to Dr Jennifer Keller who wasn’t really prepared for the demands of field work in another galaxy but came through with pretty much flying colours. We know that location shooting is getting ever more difficult so it was godsend to get access to a protected national park although as the commentary said there were restrictions but nothing quite works as well as having a real rope bridge built to film on, no green screen required just good solid stunt work from the two women who doubled for Rachel and Jewel. Overall a very atmospheric and action orientated episode which lays a lot of groundwork and of course the strange tentacled like creature that burrows around:)

Once again our downloads are holding up much better than they normally do when the summer months come around so thankyou to everyone that is listening and still some episodes that could do with a guest host, don’t be sky. This weeks promo is for The Sci-Fi Movie Podcast and next week we are going to be watching Seer which has yet to be recorded, fun times.

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Gatecast 275 SGA Travelers

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Jul 112015
 

avatar John is looking forward to a supply visit to an offworld science operation when his jumper is fired upon, he loses power and the ship is drawn into the cargo hold of a huge unknown vessel. John is dragged into a cell and physically abused and questioned but a guard, a woman then enters and it seems they had been planning on capturing a member of a race they had heard were actively attacking the Wraith using the technology of the Ancients. Larrin the commander of the vessel explains that her people live on ships and travel the stars always one step ahead of the Wraith but time and resources are slowing eroding their fleets and she needs someone capable of using Ancient technology because she has found herself an Aurora class starship which needs just a little bit of work. John plays along but when he gets to the bridge and at the command chair he applies a little acceleration without the inertial dampeners throwing the three other crew members into the walls and knocking them unconscious, John activates the hyperdrive and escapes from the traveler fleet but John has to relinquish control when Larrin threatens to turn the radiation shields off but he has sent a message towards Atlantis. Alas it’s the Wraith that finds them first and the ship comes under fire, the two Traveler men are killed when the bridge is destroyed and then John destroys the Wraith cruiser but not before three Wraith board the ship from a dart. There is then a running battle between the two groups and the last Wraith drains almost all the lifeforce out of Larrin, John gets the drop on him and offers him freedom if he brings Larrin back to health, the Wraith does and flees the ship. The Traveler fleet arrives and John is once again in a cell but he offers Larrin an opportunity to work with Atlantis in the future which would benefit her people more than one single ship and when McKay and company come a calling then find John has been left behind with a tale to tell.

Travelers (35)

Travelers is an episode which opens up the fourth season by adding a technologically advanced race that thanks to it’s nomadic beliefs has kept itself well under the radar of Atlantis and more importantly the Wraith. Of course as Larrin (played by Jill Wagner) says without the industrial support of a planet based economy their fleets have slowly been reduced in capacity even to the point where whole populations have had to be left on planets. Their find of an Aurora class Ancient warship would not only give them more living space but open up some technology options but without the gene it’s useless hence the capture of someone from the people that are fighting Wraith with Ancient tech. Of course the episode is also an opportunity for Joe to carry the story which he does very well but no question Larrin is his equal in intelligence and guile as well committment to her people, it’s that similarity between the two that allows the resolution of the episode to be fairly positive. Ultimately Travelers is a fun episode and well constructed and as you may know the Traveler culture will play a part in the seasons larger storyline and we will get to see Larrin again so happy days:)

This weeks promo was for Continuing Missions a Star Trek Voyager podcast which will be looking at the novels set within this part of the Trek franchise, the first episode aired a few days ago with a look at the Jeri Taylor novel Mosaic. Next week we are going to be taking a look at the sixth episode of this season of Atlantis “Tabula Rasa” and we are going to be joined by Jeff. As always thanks for the support over on Twitter, Google+ and Facebook and a big thank you to everyone that actually listens to the show and shares the episode information, truly appreciated:)

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Gatecast 274 SGA Doppelganger

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Jul 042015
 

avatar The team are investigating a very dense jungle/swamp world and John is certainly not a happy camper but Rodney makes a discovery of some crystal like structures that are emitting energy, John is still not impressed but for some strange reason reaches out and touches one and is thrown across the ground. Dazed and confused that take the now “dead” crystal and return to Atlantis where Dr Keller gives him a clean bill of health but as he leaves John touches Teyla and we see a surge of energy pass between them. That night Teyla has vivid and disturbing dreams about the Wraith, her father and John when he was infected by the iratus virus which makes breakfast with him and friends a little awkward. What ever returned to Atlantis via John having affected Teyla takes a bite out of Keller who is unable to save Teyla from giving birth (through her stomach) of an alien bug and Ronon who dreams of an empty Atlantis and then running from an enemy, Major Lorne is convinced John is a replicator and then Dr Heightmeyer dreams of being on the ledge of the tower and Teyla and John are with her, Teyla attempts to help her but John intervenes and the Doctor falls and soon after her dead body is found in her bed.

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It becomes clear an entity is able to move between people and subject them to their darkest nightmares maybe to take sustenance from the emotional energy and hormones created or maybe just for giggles however they determine that Rodney is it’s current host and they trap him in an isolated room and step into the dream using alien technology and together John and Rodney fight the creature in their dreams complete with clowns and whales.

Doppelganger is certainly a pretty episode, we get some good cityscape shots and some very creative work to enhance the dream sequences be they stylised or simple. It certainly a clever idea and maybe not the primary reason for this story in that we learn quite a bit about the characters or at least which fears are at their core, Ronon for example now fears being alone and the betrayal from people he has placed his faith in. It was also clever to have a character death and Dr Heightmeyer was established and Claire Rankin had given a performance that meant her characters death would twist the knife, it also ratcheted up the tension which an episode like this relies on to work. As for the final scenes with John fighting John they were very well do (lots of behind the scenes on the DVD/Blu-ray) and again when push comes to shove Rodney can develop a backbone made out of steel.

This weeks promo is for the Dark Matter podcast Because We’re Dangerous and next week we are going to take a look at the episode “The Travelers” and I make no bones about being quite pleased, a big fan of Jill Wagner. Many thanks for the Stargate chat over on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter, again thanks to Ian for the itunes review and please feel free to get in touch with us and let us know what you think about our show and of course Stargate in all it’s forms.

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Gatecast 273 SGA Reunion

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Jun 272015
 

avatar Ronon and Telya visit a small village after reports of three people who are reputed to be very efficient Wraith killers, it turns out they are all Satedans and as luck would have it friends of Ronon to boot. As you would expect Ronon is eager to have them return to Atlantis but it’s new commander Colonel Samantha Carter denies his request based on security concerns but a compromise is made when a plan is needed to infiltrate a Wraith science lab where experiments on breaking the Asuran (Replicator) code are being undertaken. Atlantis supplies a jumper and a team and together with the three Satedans they raid the complex but things soon go wrong and only Ronon escapes and we Rodney discovers that the three Satedans (Tyre, Ara and Rakai)  have betrayed them are working with the Wraith.

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Ronon along with some support return to the Wraith complex and he goes in search of his friends while the Atlantis personnel free the prisoners, they both learn of the betrayal and Ronon is shocked that after billions of his people died there were soldiers who took the silver coin of the Wraith and as emotions run high an epic three on one fight breaks out, then a knife is drawn and moments later two are dead with Ronon bruised and bloodied left standing as his true friends find him and they all go home only to find that Rodney has happily helped himself to an item Ronon left behind.

Reunion is a solid episode and continues the tradition of having the third episode in a season Ronon centric despite this being the first official episode broadcast that has Amanda Tapping bringing Sam Carter to take command of Atlantis. We’ve also seen other Satedans and truth be told when you add these three it has to be said those that survived (apart from Ronon) were not great examples of the compassion, integrity and courage we’ve seen from the big man. It was also good to see Jason get some good emotive dialogue delivered with gentleness, irritation and aggression when required. Lots of credit has to go to the casting department for the three guest stars who all brought something to their roles, they were all exceptional with Mark (Trye) bringing his stunt/fighting skills to the role and yes a tip of the hat to the director and camera operators for hiding Rachel’s baby bump and stuntwomen who allowed Kyra (Ara) to fight well as she was early into her pregnancy as well.
Overall a solid early season episode, lots of action and some great stunt work and background story padding coupled with the fresh start that Carter brings to the show.

Thank you to Brad for joining me this week (Alan was on hiatus again) and thanks to Ian for the five star UK itunes review, both of you are totally appreciated:)
This weeks promo is for Voices Of Defiance podcast which has returned and is taking a good look at the third season of Defiance currently airing globally on Syfy and its sister channels. Next week Alan returns and we are going to be taking a look at the fourth episode in the season “Doppelganger”, we hope you can join us for that and feel free to get in touch and let us know what you think of the show.

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Gatecast 272 SGA Lifeline

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Jun 202015
 

avatar Atlantis continues to drift aimlessly through space after damage from the Asuran energy weapon ruptured her primary power conduits however a wild and crazy idea was dreamt up to raid the Asuran homeworld for a ZPM which would allow the city to engage it’s hyperspace engines and make it to it’s new home. Elizabeth along with Rodney, John and Ronon use the enhanced jumper and infiltrate the Asuran city and remarkably steal a ZPM but instead of getting out clean they discover a way to turn on the core component of the replicator code which was designed to provoke them to attack the Wraith. As the infiltrate the core of the city they are discovered and Elizabeth enters into the fray and she attacks Oberoth directly, her nanites against his and the dance begins.

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Lifeline was a fitting conclusion to Elizabeth’s time on Atlantis, there was never a doubt she would sacrifice herself for her people and here she demonstrates it and it wasn’t by accident, she knew this was always going to be a possibility and she bought the lives of her people with her own. Jack would have been proud and maybe that was the only story/character element I would have liked to have seen explored in what was an epic three part story. We had a little bit of Dr Lee who as always was a laugh and of course we see the Apollo in action without Asgard beam weapons, maybe it’s awaiting retrofitting and has to make do with missiles and railguns but it put up a good display against the unknown spec of the Asuran warship which looked like a jumper on steroids (at least to me). Of course you had to laugh when the writes made sure the hyperspace capable jumper was not going to be monkey on their back when writing new episodes, they learnt their lesson from the beaming technology.

A big thankyou to Ian for joining me for this show, this was his first time on the podcast although he interacts a lot via twitter and is patiently going through our entire back catalogue which is an impressive task in itself, I know I’ve done the same for other podcasts which I’ve started listening to after they have been around a while. This weeks promo is for Under The Dome Radio which covers the tv series Under The Dome which returns to US screens on the 25th of June and next week we are taking a look at the third episode in this season of Atlantis “Reunion”.

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SF Debris Opinionated Reviews

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Jun 142015
 

Well SF Debris delivered again with two excellent reviews for the Stargate Atlantis two parter (actually season finale and premiere) The Storm and The Eye.

Gatecast 271 SGA Adrift

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Jun 132015
 

avatar2 The fourth season of Stargate Atlantis sees the city adrift in normal space after her hyperdrive engine cut out, it turns out the Asuran energy beam caused significant damage to the primary power conduits of the city and there was simply not enough energy getting to the engines to keep the city in hyperspace. As the fly through local space with no way to call for help they discover that while the damage can be routed around after a lot of hard physical work the clock is ticking as the city is pumping energy from the ZPM to maintain life support and other functions. The city reduces shield coverage which causes the death of three technicians working on one of the piers but an approaching asteroid field has all the jumpers launching and trying to clear a path, the desperate attempt is partially successful but the unprotected parts of the city suffer considerable damage and yep one of the towers houses a control unit that has to be bypassed. Zelenka and John go for a space walk and while they achieve their goals it’s not without injury. Oh, did I forget that Elizabeth is all but dead and Dr Keller encourages Rodney to reactive the nanites in her system despite John’s vehement refusal as he sites the risk but it’s done and Elizabeth awakes fully healed, she is not entirely happy looking at the big picture but it seems the nanites can not communicate with the Asurans and maybe there is hope for everyone. The hyperdrive capable jumper which Rodney tried to develop when under the influence of the Ascension device has limited functions and the Asuran homeworld full of ZPM modules is within range.

Guy with the brush, sweep harder!

Guy with the brush, sweep harder!

Adrift is great start to the fourth season, while the CGI is a little hit and miss when it’s hits it hits big time and combined with the drama of their escape from the Asurans and the deaths and consequences the episode is packed and I really can fault the overall production. It was great to see John and Rodney facing eachother down, maybe the first time they have had a serious disagreement and imagine it over Elizabeth being saved or allowed to die and a nice touch to have Ronon give the emotional side, that was very satisfying but watching him walk around aimlessly in the background of so many shots was just too funny for words. The asteroid field was an idea that for me didn’t really work but it was an action sequence in an episode that was a lot of talking heads but the simpler tower leap by Zelenka and John was far more impressive, it says a lot that the Stargate inhouse and third party CG designers have set the bar so high. I was amazed John did not recognise the address for the Asuran homeworld and on the surface a covert strike to steal a ZPM sounds like suicide but what options do they have and they do have the ace in the hole if they can trust her.

Thanks everyone for listening to our take on Adrift, we would love to hear what you thought about this episode of Atlantis and our own take on it and if you want to join us then feel free to get in touch. Many thanks to Brad for joining me on the show as Alan has returned home to the Republic for a short visit with family, this weeks promo was for the Saturday B Movie Reel and next week I am joined by a new guest Ian for the Atlantis episode Lifeline, hope you join us.

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Stargate Atlantis Season 3 Wrap Up Show

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May 302015
 

avatar Well here we are again for an end of season wrap up show, in this mighty endeavour (well not really) we take a good long look back at Stargate Atlantis season 3 with Brad who graciously offered to join us which normally means he gets up in the middle of the night, above and beyond as always. Thanks to everyone that joined us for this season of Atlantis (Brad, Shannon, Thomas, Scott, Shayne, Misa, Miles and Jeff) and all those who contributed via Facebook, Google +, Twitter and email as well as everyone who voted in the favourite episode poll.

We’ve included a bunch of promos in this episode so feel free to check them out and next week we return with our Stargate SG1 Season 10 wrap up show so stay tuned because when that’s been released we are diving into the fourth season of Atlantis and all the changes to the show that came with it.

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Poll Results…

  1. Common Ground
  2. Tao of Rodney
  3. McKay & Mrs Miller &  The Return Parts 1 & 2
  • Total Votes 60

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Gatecast 270 SGA First Strike

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May 232015
 

avatar The new Apollo commanded by Colonel Abe Ellis arrives at Atlantis equipped with a weapons delivery system called “Horizon” armed with six naquadah enhanced mark 9 nuclear warheads, fly by data over the Asuran homeworld indicates they are building a fleet of ships and the belief is that their target will be Earth itself so a pre-emptive strike has been ordered by the President, SGC and IOA. The mission with reservations goes well with the vast majority of the targets destroyed but soon after an object appears in the Atlantis system and within a Stargate is activated, the “satellite” fires on the Apollo and the energy beam sweeps around to target the city from orbit and it soon becomes apparent nothing will stop this beam from wearing it the cities shields and destroying Atlantis. The single ZPM will not sustain the shield and even submerging the city only gains them a small respite but in an out of the box solution they drive an asteroid into the path of the energy beam and use the energy from the geothermal complex to initiate the star drive and launch the city. Initially it all goes well but the city starts to stall the shield is dropped and the city once agains powers upwards and as the leave the atmosphere the shield is once again raised but moments from full coverage the energy beam strikes causing damage to the tower. The city enters hyperspace but soon after the star drive shuts down and they are left floating in normal space light years from anywhere and anyone with no immediate means to call for help and with many injured including Elizabeth who is in critical condition.

Duck & Cover

Duck & Cover

First Strike is a pretty epic third season finale and yet has no direct input from the Wraith which seems strange on the surface but it is part of the desire to deal with the Asuran “replicators” and we do get to see the ingenuity of the Ancients through their creation as they deploy a Stargate equipped satellite very very quickly which would in time have destroyed the city if not for the hail mary solution which itself has consequences. The episode also always a soft introduction to the new chief medical officer Dr Jennifer Keeler (Jewel Staite) and sets the stage for the departure of Elizabeth (Torri Higginson) as a full time character for good or bad depending upon your point of view. All that aside the writers and production staff put together a fantastic episode and there is no question a lot of money was spent especially as the episode is very effects heavy, you don’t get to see the city fly that often and well the final stunt work performed by Ky Furneaux doubling Elizabeth was if anything more impressive than any of the CGI. It was good to see the ship builders are still hard at work as the Apollo makes her debut along with her new commander Colonel Abraham Ellis played by Michael Beach and the dynamic was certainly an interesting approach to take but it made a lot of sense, the civilian and military will always be at odds over the Stargate programme.

First Strike is a great episode and gave us a quality cliffhanger as the fate of some characters and the city itself hangs in the balance.

So that’s the final season three episode done and dusted, thank you to everyone who has been directly involved or supported us via all the ways social media allows. Many thanks to Brad for joining us for First Strike and he will be back from the two wrap up shows the first of which will be for Atlantis and that is due to be released on the 30th of May. This weeks promo is for the Sci-Fi Movie Podcast who have just celebrated their 100th episode with a look at Return of the Jedi, great podcast well worth listening too.

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Gatecast 268 SGA Vengeance

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May 092015
 

avatar The silence from the transplanted Taranin people worries Elizabeth and she sends the team to investigate, upon arrival they found the settlement empty but knowing it was built upon a huge complex of tunnels holds out hope that the people have moved underground perhaps to safeguard themselves from the Wraith. As the team searches the complex they detect a lifeform but then are attacked by a large creature, they wound it and as it flees they find a store room full of dead bodies, they have discovered the fate of the Taranins. In an adjacent room there is a large pod/cocoon and Ronon going walkabout finds the lab with the remnants of carnage and an Iratus bug in a container, having lost contact with the Marines sent as backup they return to the Stargate only to find that the control crystal of the DHD has been removed, they have no option but to return to the underground complex and search for whoever is responsible.

Vengeance (5)The culprit is revealed when her returns to find the destroyed remnants of his horrifying experiment, it’s Michael Kenmore who is exploiting the very technology that was used to create his own circumstance with a true megalomaniacs  desire to take over not only the world but the entire galaxy with his own genetically engineered creatures who are a mixture of Iratus and human. Teyla is isolated from the team and taken captive by Michael who as always had an affinity for her but now views her as an enemy and just one more ingredient to create more of his minions but after running battles, tense standoffs and lots of hide and seek the team evade the horde of creatures and using Michael’s own dart escape the planet and return to Atlantis.

Well Vengeance is a pretty dark episode, Stargate has never been afraid to move past the grey but we get a rather graphic display of the horror’s Michael is willing to impose on his captives. That said he is a creation of Carson Beckett who should probably have known better than attempting to alter a species so dramatically regardless of the threat they pose and it’s 50/50 if the Wraith as a whole or Michael as an individual is the greater threat. We got some high quality prosthetic and suit work in the episode from Masters FX and certainly the lower lighting conditions helped to sell the scenes the acting and stunt work combined with the makeup and pyrotechnics delivered a pulse pounding action sequence time and time again. As always Conner more than delivers a stellar performance, it may be the writing or he may have simply found the style of “Michael”, either way he is delivering a level of calm and controlled menace all the best bad guys have in spades.

Vengeance was a pleasure to watch and yes they made no bones about the casual lifting of ideas from the Alien franchise with their own particular twist of course:)

A big thank you to Shannon for joining us for the first time, a seasoned podcaster who despite some jury rigging was able to get into the swing of how we do things effortlessly. Our next recording will be for the Atlantis season 3 wrap up so the favourite episode poll is now up and running, it will close on the 16th of May so please let us know by voting which is your favourite S3 episode. This weeks promo is for the Voices of Defiance which is hosted by Shannon and they should return with new content in time for the third season of Defiance on Syfy and next week we have the Stargate SG1 series finale Unending, please join us for that and if you are going to give us some feedback that is the episode to do it for 🙂

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Gatecast 266 SGA Submersion

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Apr 252015
 

avatar2The Ancients built a geothermal operation on the seabed and as the jumper searches for it tensions rise, yeah the are we there yet cliche is in full force but not to worry the complex is revealed but Teyla is uneasy, she senses something but no life signs beyond those that came down in the jumper register. She convinces Elizabeth to allow to her meditate to see if she detect a Wraith presence and well the results are not good, Ronon gets a good old ass kicking and there are power outages galore. Teyla is corralled and has no memory of what she had been doing but then the scanners detect a Wraith cruiser on the seabed and now it’s Queen is roaming the complex and picnicking on the scientists who don’t seem to realise the danger they are in, at least for a short time.  The Queen is captured but she reveals that she has set her ship to self destruct, the thousands of years of being alone has caused her to roll the dice for all or nothing and the clock is ticking.

Submersion (30)

Submersion is an interesting episode, it paves the way for a major event in the finale so certainly serves a purpose but seems like it was a little rushed but saying that the redressing of the sets to give us the Ancient drilling platform worked very well. We got some good Rodney moments and Teyla got to see some action and how rare is it to see Ronon so beaten and so quickly, granted he really wasn’t expecting to but still. It’s always great to see how the makeup and effects departments picture the latest Wraith Queen once again played by Andee Frizzell, maybe not as aesthetically pleasing (depending upon your point of view) but certainly a more slimy and aquatic feel, the long shots of her swimming certainly seemed to indicate quite large feet assuming they were not flippers.

This weeks promo was for Beyond the Wall a Game of Thrones podcast from SpecFic Media and next week we are going to watching the Stargate SG1 episode Dominion in which we see the return of Adria, not many more SG1 episodes left 🙂

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Gatecast 264 SGA Sunday

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Apr 112015
 

avatar2 A mandated day of rest and Carson is eager to go fishing on the mainland but one by one his friends duck his invitation and Rodney goes as far as to use Kate as an excuse to renege on his promise to accompany Carson. Elizabeth meanwhile is playing footsy with a rather dashing civilian member of the expedition but her own ethics and maybe doubts push her towards the more solitary position while in command of Atlantis. Tragedy strikes when an explosions kills a young scientist and it’s discovered her own body created the explosive in the guise of a tumor which was created when
she and a colleague were exposed to an Ancient device which was emitting radiation. Carson is unaware he is preparing to operate on the other scientist whose body is a time bomb but as we would expect he refuses to leave the patient to die and the consequences for the turtles are dire.

Sunday (24)

I don’t think we need to say too much about Sunday, a fun episode which has a very dark underside and you really get suckered into happy and fun feeling that Atlantis is enjoying with the totally unexpected results of the explosion and death of Dr Harriet Hewston and injury to Teyla. It was good to see Dr Watson played by Daniel Bacon who had also played a technician on Stargate SG1 and the style of the episode with flashbacks and multiple viewpoints was a perfect choice to tell the story.

Paul McGillion did himself and his character proud and we may look back and wonder if the writers could have done a lot more with the character in the three seasons he was on the show but we’ll never know but at least this isn’t the end for Carson, scifi shows never really kill off anyone so we may just get to see the good Doctor some time in the future. Many thanks to Thomas for joining us on the show, US, UK and Finland scheduling can make things interesting but we got the job done and Thomas will be returning for the SG1 finale in a few weeks. This weeks promo was for the Tuning Into Scifi podcast, an excellent resource for genre television news, reviews and features. Next week we will be looking at the Stargate SG1 episode Family Ties when we get to meet Vala’s father and that should be a lot of fun, we hope you join us and don’t forget to let us know what you think of the episode and Stargate in general.

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Gatecast 262 SGA The Ark

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Mar 282015
 

avatar The team explore what looks like an abandoned space station built within a small moon orbiting a devastated planet, Rodney of course can’t help but start pressing buttons and powering up the stations nuclear reactor. As the systems come alive he recognises an energy signature as belonging to the Wraith beaming device and they find a human looking individual who has been returned to physical form. Herick tells them the story of his world as it came under attack from the Wraith and this station was built to house and protect a few thousands people in storage until such time as they could return and rebuild their world but only one of the storage units is present. Jamus the leader of the project is awakened and explains that in the final hours the second shuttle never made it to the stations and Herick’s family perished, in his grief Herick commits suicide and cripples the station leaving it in a decaying orbit and now no jumper to escape either.

TheArk (40)The Ark is another standalone episode near the end of a season which was strongly arc orientated but despite that works quite well even though you have to question the basic premise of the story and the decisions made by the people on this world. I can’t help but feel some deep underground havens would have been just as secure as an orbital hiding place for dozens maybe hundreds of these storage units for long term survival of the species and allow for more diversity. Oh well, we’ll never really know what ultimately becomes of the survivors but if the mixture isn’t 90% practical skills then no amount of art and poetry will prove the decision to obliterate their world was good let alone practical. The overall production based on pretty much two main sets worked very well, kept it claustrophobic and in your face but I don’t think any character really keep out looking good, even John’s choice to pilot the unpowered shuttle wasn’t a big deal since it should have smashed to pieces not matter how good a job he did. That said an easy to watch episode and The Ark is far from the worse of the season but not that memorable either but Kenneth Welsh did a fantastic job.

Thanks to Mack and Brad for the comments over on Google+ and Facebook, this weeks promo is for The Scifi Diner podcast and next week we are back with Stargate SG1 and the Teal’c centric episode Talion so buckle up for that:)

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