Michael and Bunny seem to have found a Stargate sans DHD at Fedcon a few weeks ago, a big thank to Michael for posting his pictures and of course listening to the show:)
Michael is one of the hosts and creators of the Star Trek themed podcast network Visionary Trek, why not pay them a visit.
A cry for help from the planet of Taranis has the team visiting the world which is the site of an Ancient outpost. It seems the ancients built an advanced defensive shield powered by geo-thermal energy to protect the base and the local inhabitants since the fall of Atlantis have used the facility although not to any great extent but with the rise of the Wraith and the ongoing culling the shield has been activated but there are consequences. Rodney while examining the systems realises that the continued full power use of the shield has strained the geo-thermal vents that supply the raw power and the super volcano is close to eruption and by close he means days which isn’t good. While Rodney is working with the alien scientist Norina the chancellor reveals the great secret of Taranis, the outpost was the home base for an Aurora class Ancient warship and it’s still there fully intact albeit currently unable to fly but hey Rodney is close at hand. As the super volcano becomes more active and Rodney finally convinces everyone that the imminent eruption is a global killer and part way through the initial evacuation the gate is lost as lava wells up from the ground leaving the team and the locals with no escape except for the Ancient ship and the hope that the Daedalus can reach them quickly despite it’s limited life support which means they could only take a few people on board as the inferno rages below.
Great view, from a distance.
Inferno has it’s flaws but at heart it’s a fun story making good use of the chemistry between Rodney and John and particularly the energy David brings to his role, he really makes the combination of genius and egotistical hothead work so well and add in the awkwardness around an attractive woman, no any woman just adds the icing to this episode. Strangely enough Norina (Brandy Ledford) does seem interested, it may be his intelligence rather than his character but it certainly knocks Rodney off his center where as John lays on the charm with a gusto. The special effects for the super volcano is fairly good, not fantastic but as we see with the “Orion” and Deadealus the CGI has really been perfected for more manufactured objects where as more fluid effects are at that time just a little beyond the scope of a tv budget. The natural scepticism of the Chancellor played by Kevin McNulty rings true but this episode is all about the dynamic of the main characters when under extreme pressure and in that regard we can’t forget once again Teyla and Ronon being paired up and facing death as they become stranded in a local village as the volcanic ash falls.
One again many thanks to Thomas for joining us for Inferno and this weeks podcast promo was for Flash Pulp an excellent source of short form pulp themed audio productions, many thanks for the feedback over on Facebook, Google+ and of course Twitter and next week we are going to return to SG1 for it’s season 9 finale “Camelot”, hope you join us for that and don’t forget we are keen to get people on the show for S10 of SG1 and S3 of Atlantis, please get in touch if you are interested as hopefully as times passes the episodes will be allocated:)
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Vala returns to the SGC although only her mind and she takes great delight in occupying Daniels body especially when her first port of call is the mens locker room. Anyhow when Sam realises what is happening and they get to debrief Vala (no not in that way) and she tells them of her appearance in the ORI galaxy in a small village, her friendship and romance with a native of that world and ultimately the bombshell that she is pregnant. If that wasn’t enough to drop on SG1 and the General she then reveals that the ORI ships are ready to go and filled with soldiers ready to fight and die in a religious war against the inhabitants of the Milky Way. Oh and in the meantime the Chinese have made their play for access to the Russian Stargate currently leased to the US.
The Will of the Ori
Crusade marks the return to Stargate for Claudia Black and yes she was heavily pregnant at the time and that worked so well with the story the writers created around her return, the consequences of this story will play out in the tenth season but for now the structure of this episode allows Vala to take center stage without putting too much pressure on Claudia although there was no question that she was giving 100% with the scenes in the village and her acting opposite Tomin played by Tim Guinee. Once again the standing village set is redressed to provide a unique location without requiring huge investment which allows for strong guest actors including Tim as mentioned and of course Michael Ironside who can tick another genre show off his to act in list:)
I really enjoyed Crusade, Claudia was excellent as was Tim and the whole weaving of the Ori story which was basically clips/flashback and exposition was delivered to the viewers in a entertaining and fast paced manner, the threat of the ORI is now really becoming clear and puts pressure on the SGC to handle the local political fall out after the games the Russians were playing and the threat given that the ORI have proved to have weapons tech far in advance than even the Asgard.
Many thanks for the feedback this week and our Facebook, Google+ and Twitter have been very active and lets not forget that we are on a very gratifying number of listener lists over on Stitcher, wouldn’t say no to another itunes review though:)
This weeks promo is for the Sci-Fi Movie Podcast and next week we return to Atlantis for the episode Inferno with our guest Thomas once again joining us for an episode he asked to do a while back, hope you can join us for that and don’t forget we are keen to get more voices on the show, why not get intouch and join in watching and talking about an episode of Stargate SG1 season 10 and Atlantis season 3.
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The latest Stargate opinionated review from SFDebris is the classic Torment of Tantalus although always felt the title had a very Star Trek feel to it:)
Lt. Michael Kenmore awakes not knowing who he is or how he came to be but is constantly reassured by Teyla and other Atlantis personnel that he was a member of a unit attacked by the Wraith and was taken prisoner, upon rescue he was treated but is now suffering from amnesia. As he recovers in body and mind everyone treats him well with the exception of Ronon who is openly aggressive but Michael is unaware of anything he has to done to cause such behaviour and his curiosity is peaked. After suffering from a couple of nightmares Michael goes to the infirmary and as Carson sleeps he discovers the “kenmore” calendar and DVD records with his name on, on playback they show nearly two weeks of surveillance and Michael himself strapped to a bed ultimately screaming defiance as it’s revealed as the days go back to be a Wraith! Despite this revelation and learning of the retro virus he remains reasonably calm but eventually snaps after being confronted once again by Ronon and a minor war breaks out and a guard is killed, Michael is captured and taken to an off world base but uses his mind powers on Teyla and together they escape through the Stargate to a Wraith world but they are now being tracked by fellow Wraith with John and Ronon not far behind.
Quiet Contemplation
Michael is the opening episode to a long running if not overly used arc (for now) dealing with the consequences of using the retro-virus, yes the one that caused so many problems last time and you have to ask yourself if this is sort of some “ethically” acceptable method of genocide because when you get down to it the Wraith as they developed are going to be wiped from the face of the Pegasus galaxy. If you want to put it more simply then the very basis of this plan is awash with deceit and deception and from that would anything really good come to fruition? Now for the plus points, fantastic to see Conner Trinneer fresh from his four years on Enterprise returning to the scifi genre and handling a well written role and as we know a lot more to come but the challenge of more prosthetics is ahead, Rachel also got to push her character as well with some well written scenes between Teyla and Michael again a dynamic which they will exploit over the rest of the show. We had a couple of guests this week, given Conner was joining Atlantis we got Adam and Paul from the Star Trek Enterprise podcast Previously in The Alpha Quadrant to join us for the episode and we think a good time was had by all, let us know what you think and pay a visit to PITAQ and it’s host network Trekmate.
This weeks promo is for the Star Trek podcast Two to beam Up which is looking at the original series and next week we are going to be watching the Stargate SG1 episode Crusade and we will be joined by Thomas.
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While experimenting with a device taken from the caverns beneath Glastonbury a flash of light envelopes Sam and Cameron, minutes later Dr Lee enters the room and totally fails to see the pair of them just standing there and it soon becomes clear by means of this Ancient technology they have been phased out of the plain of existence the rest of the planet exists in. While the search for Sam and Cameron continues the Stargate activates and a garbled message is received along with a strike against the Iris, further investigation indicates it was a message from the Sodan calling for help as they are under attack. Teal’c takes SG12 and they find almost total devastation, it seems every single member of the Sodan have been slaughtered including the non-combatants and many shows strikes against their symbiote pouches. They do find Arkon barely alive grimly hanging on to his life and he tells them that while on a trading mission Volnek met a Prior and a few days after he returned he fell ill and turned into a unstoppable killing machine and wiped out the settlement before searching further afield for the women and children who were sent away. Dr Lee is having the time of his life mucking about with the ancient device which we now know belonged to Merlin and it was used to hide his experiments from the eyes of his people but things take a turn for the worse when Daniel is zapped out of phase and Cameron goes to help Teal’s on the Sodan homeworld. Volnek appears and it’s believed the Ori have used a similar technology that Anubis used to create his super soldiers giving them eternal life and enhanced combat abilities and maybe the only way to kill him will be to literally shred his entire body and that’s what two Claymore mines will be used for. Daniel eventually manages to deactivate Arthur’s Mantle bringing them back into phase but alas that also means Cameron returns to normal at a most inconvenient time but never fear the trap is sprung and Volnek is blown to bits.
Zombies with Guns !
Arthur’s Mantle combines both humour and drama, no question once Dr Lee is in the mix there is always going to be a lot of fun and with the “brains” of the operation in and out of phase it’s giggles all the way, loved the poking which was done twice and Stargate has never shied away from a little physical fun. It was significant that we also lost the Sodan, obviously they defied the Ori but it seemed short of a planetary strike they were able to hold their own against the local Prior and his plans but one of their own was the key to their downfall. I liked the filtering of the phased scenes, really added to the presentation and while I’m sure Volnek and many of the Sodan could have added more to the final season of Stargate still to come but at least their story got wrapped up.
This weeks promo is for Pulp Audio Weekly and next week we have guests for the Stargate Atlantis episode Michael, hope you join us for that.
We are still looking for guests for Season 10 of SG1 and Season 3 of Atlantis and hand on heart we would love to hear what you think about the episodes we cover, we’re thankful for the regulars who post/tweet but we know Stargate has many more fans and speaking of that how about the news that MGM and Warner have green lit a new reboot trilogy of the original theatrical feature, let us know what you think:)
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Well after some rumours late last year it has been confirmed that MGM and Warner Brothers have green light a potential trilogy of movies rebooting the original Stargate theatrical feature. Once again Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin will be directing and producing respectively and I assume sharing the writing of the movie although adding new blood for a reboot would make some sense if nothing else to reflect today’s scifi market. Time will tell if MGM are looking to match the best of Disney, Fox and Sony in terms of big budget investment or they are looking at a solid middle ground which despite a $100 million price tag at least gives a movie a very good chance of recouping it’s investment in the global market.
A Stargate Reboot a good or bad thing?
Variety Deadline Hollywood Cnet Blastr
The team led by Major Lorne is believed to be dead after their dwelling in an off world village is burnt down leaving bodies with the appropriate dog tags and then an unexpected communication from Ladon Radim who was one of the Genii that attacked Atlantis under the command of Koyla offers an opportunity for the expedition to get their hands on a ZPM, the offer is too tempting so they respond and learn he is planning to depose Cowen and take over the leadership of his people now significantly reduced after a recent culling by the Wraith. Teyla and Ronon investigate the surroundings and circumstances of the death of Lorne and his men while Weir and Sheppard deal with Ladon eventually coming to a deal but with little intent on honouring it and of course it all goes badly when the Genii sent to collect their supplies are found to be terminally ill and of no use as a bargaining chip for the ZPM. The tables are turned when it is revealed the Genii are behind the “deaths” of Lorne and his men as they are attempting to get access to the gene therapy and by capturing John and his men thanks to the failed raid for the ZPM Cowen returns front and center as mastermind of the whole convoluted plot. We are not done though, even Cowen has under estimated his own peoples loyalty and as Ladon said he does what he does for his people and eventually that means taking the Genii down another path one which may include a more trusting partnership with Atlantis.
You will die Mr Bond
Coup D’etat is an excellent episode of Atlantis weaving together former races and characters who over the first two seasons have played a part in the growth of the story, we had the welcome return of Cowen after Ladon was elevated to a more prominent role which worked very well adding to the culture of the Genii and taking nothing away. The plot of the story was twisty to say the least but you did have to over look quite a few things yet even after seeing the episode so many times it loses nothing in it’s use of the twist and the slightly unexpected choices made by characters some you know very well. Coup D’etat won’t be the last time we see the Genii again but it is the last time we meet them as a people which is a shame, granted they were a little too gung ho but they could have been an asset in the galaxy wide Wraith conflict beyond a short term supplier of nukes.
This weeks promo is for the Warp Ten Podcast which is a lot of fun but not for kids and next weeks Stargate episode will be “Arthur’s Mantle” in which an Ancient device causes all sorts of problems with added zombies:)
Many thanks to everyone who chatted with us on Facebook, Google+ and over on Twitter especially those who retweeted our links and spread the word of Stargate. We are looking for anyone to join us for S10 of SG1 and S3 of Atlantis, move voices in the show would be most welcome so please get in touch if you fancy coming back or joining us for the first time, all you need is Skype and a microphone so these days that could be as simple as a smartphone upwards:)
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The IOA demand a visit to the Gamma sight and the Pentagon and SGC agree that SG1 should go along to both protect and encourage a positive experience. On arrival the representatives are shown some of the ongoing experiments including research into a bug which they believe was spread by the Ori to decimate crops and maybe even more on worlds which have not embraced origin. Alas things go badly wrong after the bugs are fed meat loaf and despite containment procedures they get loose and go on a flesh eating rampage forcing SG1 and the IOA people to flee which the base personnel attempt to retake the base but they are unsuccessful and the self destruct is initiated. When communications are lost the Odyssey is sent to the plant with orders to sterilise the bugs and with not way to pick out the humans if indeed any are left with the Asgard sensors thanks to so many lifeforms in a small area SG1 have little hope of surviving even if the bugs do not get them before hand.
Not wearing red but he knows….
The Scourge is a standalone episode and very much in line with the Syfy channels creature feature output infact Robert Picardo has featured in one or two of them but this kinda works and despite links to the ORI arc and the smaller Chinese “hints” of taking over Stargate operations it provides a little light relief albeit with quite a few deaths and the loss of another off world base. The French representative played by Mark Oliver is wonderfully over the top and Tamlyn Tomita as the Chinese rep who is mildly manipulating Daniel does it with some style and humour and surprisingly there is some funny moments in the episode but these sorts of tales should raise a smile. I’m not sure anyone would really like the responsibility of commanding an off world base, they don’t last long and some of the protective measures for the experiments were woefully lacking, the only good side is that they were off world and not being conducted at the SGC, Area 51 or by a civilian partner.
We got to welcome Stephen back to the show for The Scourge, it was an ideal episode for his long awaited return since he hadn’t seen this season and episode for quite a while and since it didn’t rely on extensive knowledge of the story arcs I think it was easy for him and everyone to enjoy it for what it was. We got a nice voice mail from Brad who as always impresses with his comments recorded while on the road and this week it was most welcome since last weeks episode didn’t get much love feedback wise over on Facebook and G+. This weeks promo is for The Rusted Robot Podcast and next week we return to Atlantis for the Genii episode Coup D’etat, hope you can join us for that and we’d love to hear your thoughts on Stargate, our show and if you fancy joining us for an episode that we’ll be starting SG1 S10 and Atlantis S3 shortly.
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Two escape pods are found in orbit around a distant planet and upon return to Atlantis the first is found to include a very old woman whose life is maintained purely by the pods machinery. If she is removed then she will die but as Weir approaches the pod she is struck by a beam of energy and the conciousness of the woman is transferred to her, this is believed to act as a last ditch method of allowing the survivor to communicate and say goodbye or offer insight into what ever disaster befell the mother ship. Weir seems to be all up for helping the woman who says the other pod probably contains her husband and John agrees to host the males spirit. Things do not go according to plan, the two now with healthy bodies with the knowledge of their hosts attack the guards, take their weapons and begin a cat and mouse game around the city intent on killing the other, they are the two final survivors of a culture that has ripped itself apart and with only hours to live just being the last one alive would be considered the victory.
The Long Goodbye has it’s story elements born within many scifi stories and series so there is nothing new but as always it’s how it’s done for each incarnation. In the Atlantis version we have some excellent space CGI, the pods look very nice and as a practical prop acceptable. The two aliens motivations while ridiculous at least have the desperate and illogical sense that we alas do see in the most obsessive people in real life who ignore ethics and morality to achieve a goal, this is normally a bad thing and the same is seen here, both aliens push the boundaries caring little for their hosts. The real upside of this episode is once again when Torri gets a meaty script she really gets her teeth into it and while Joe works his acting muscles it’s Torri that steals the scenes with everyone although it has to be said McKay and Caldwell have great abrasive chemistry. It’s only after the fact you realise that this is a bottle show, existing sets and cast with a little it of new CGI to set everything up and then you let the stunt crew and writers go to town.
Weir and Sheppard having fun.
We had some feedback this week over on Facebook and Google+ and as always Twitter pays us back big time with lots of Stargate and scifi chatter. This weeks promo is for The Podcasting Gear show hosted by Scott who also does the SciFi Diner Podcast and next week we are joined by Stephen for the SG1 episode Scourge, it’s been a few years since he joined us for an episode so it’s a welcome return. We hope you enjoyed our look at The Long Goodbye and feel free to let us know what you think about that episode and anything Gatecast or Stargate.
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Various planets around the galaxy are reporting a raising concern of Kassa which is a vegetable currently very popular thanks to it’s inherent addictive properties and the question is asked if this is a naturally occurring resource being exploited by a criminal enterprise or perhaps a round about way for the ORI to disrupt and manipulate populations that are not already within their fold. SG1 go undercover to P6G-452 a known producer of Kassa and in a rather short sighted move Cameron decides to pose as a buyer and attempt to gain the contact information of someone higher up the kassa producing food chain. It goes badly and SG1 has to aggressively retreat to the Stargate which then is beamed away by an unknown third party leaving them to be tortured for information they do not have. General Landry talks to the captured Goa’uld Nerus who reveals that he had been working on an idea to reprogram stargates to create an independent network that could not be directly accessed via the existing galaxy spanning system, it seems that Ba’al has begun implementing such a system by stealing gates for the new network. The Odyssey is sent to rescue SG1 even though it’s still under going it’s flight trials but they recover the team and thanks to the General tagging Nerus with a tracker within a cupcake they are able to find the location of Ba’al and a mission is launched to recover the gates but they find themselves in the middle of a shooting war between Ba’al’s ship and three Lucian Alliance ships and time is running out.
I think they are surrounded!
Off The Grid is an action packed adventure for SG1 including gun battles on the planet and yes they get captured although it has to be said you don’t really plan for the Stargate to vanish during your tactical withdrawal. The CGI ship battles in space looked excellent and it’s always been great to see the running fire fights along the corridors of a Ha’tak. The General deserves a lot of credit in this episode, he made the decision to send the Odyssey an unproven ship and manipulated Nerus who isn’t stupid just has quite a large blind spot when it comes to certain aspects of his life. Cliff Simon once again rocks as Ba’al the system lord with all the charm and smoothness the bad guys in any story should have in spaces and of course we know that seeing him die really isn’t the end of his tale.
Many thanks to Brad for joining us for this episode and thanks to everyone who posted feedback over on our Facebook, Google+ and Twitter feeds. This weeks promo of for The Anomaly Podcast and next week we return to Atlantis for the episode The Long Goodbye and don’t forget to vote in the favourite episode polls, the time frame has been extended.
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I had an hour to kill tonight so picked out an episode of Motive from the second season I hadn’t seen it, the episode was called “Overboard” and yes I immediately thought of Kurt Russell and Goldie in the bikini but hey that’s just me:) This story involved the murder of the wife of a wealthy online gambling business owner but as is the style of the show we know who the victim and the murderer are straight away and the entertainment is watching the detectives figure out why the events happened as they did. In Overboard we had two former Stargate actors taking leading guest starring roles, the first Niall Matter who played Damian Cutter and the second Julie McNiven who was Meredith Taylor and both roles had a lot of screen time. Niall has starred in Primeval New World and had a long running recurring lead role on Eureka and made a couple of guest appearances on Stargate Atlantis in the episodes Be All My Sins Remember’d and Tabula Rasa playing Lt. Kemp while Julie played the Lucian Alliance scientist Ginn in eight episodes of Stargate Alliance and had recurring roles on Supernatural and Mad Men.
Overboard was an excellent episode of Motive and worth mentioning that Carlos Bernard also appeared, best known perhaps for his stint on 24.
The team visit a primitive world looking for trade and resources and discover that the local villagers pay tribute to The Tower and in return it protects them from the Wraith by means of glowing lights which fly through the sky. They are taken to the tower and it looks like the central structure of Atlantis but sprouting from a large wooded and hilly area of the planet. McKay along with a local named Baldric go investigate while the rest of the team stay in the village and discover that the enforcers of the tower act in a rather brutal manner to the villagers and when they intervene to prevent a whipping a man named Eldred appears and brings down a drone attack. He then scans the team and invites John back to the tower and introduces him to the Lord Protector who does indeed rule the plant from within a sister city to Atlantis complete with ZPM powered chair, sensors and weapon systems. The Royal family and their hangers on live in luxury thanks to them exploiting the villagers and it turns out that the Ancient gene has kept these people in power and it is slowly weakening within the blood line and John’s arrival offers a boost and so the young and pretty Mara throws herself at John and well he’s only a guy after all. Meanwhile McKay discovers a huge store of drones but finds that the ZPM is almost exhausted and while Teyla and Ronon are dealing with over enthusiastic enforcers and John handles a royal coup and murder the world is slowly spinning towards chaos when all three plot elements merge when the new Lord Protector launches an attack on the village and John has to then fight for his life.
Party Time all the time
The Tower asks a lot of questions and the main one is why would the Ancients leave a city ship on this planet complete with functioning ZPM, drones and it seems a working star drive. We have seen that individual Ancients have taken it upon themselves to protect humans within the Pegasus galaxy by a manner of means but a second city ship is not something that can be just slipped in under the council’s noses so it must have been a sanctioned plan which still leaves the question open. The story of course when dealing with the attitudes of the people of this world does make perfect sense, there is nothing new there but it’s done fairly well and the village set is rustic and primitive enough as well as the redressed Atlantis looking pretty spectacular in a period style. Lets not forget the costuming which worked well both for the male and female characters (main and extras), I really liked the flowing shirt with the ruffles that Eldred (Peter Woodward) was showing off:)
McKay with his sidekick Baldric was a laugh, Ronon and Teyla dealing with the enforcers and the villagers was quite intense at times and seeing Ronon lose it provoked by the threat of a woman’s rape was both frightening but inspiring, we really saw what he was capable of and combined with Jason’s expression during the fight really hammered home how complex this character can be. John of course had a great time, good food, good sex, political intrigue and a fight for good measure combine to make a pretty good couple of days away from the city and then underlined by the criminally short screen time for Elizabeth when the two chattered in the final scene.
Overall quite a fun episode, an excellent cast with the return of Jay Brazeau to the franchise and the overall production was excellent with action, humour and drama.
This weeks promo is for the Nutty Bites Podcast and next week we return to SG1 for the episode Off The Grid so hope you join us for that and if you have anything to say then don’t hesitate to get in touch, we love getting feedback in any form so check us out on Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus and if you have the inclination a review and rating on itunes and Stitcher would be most appreciated. Don’t forget that our two polls for the upcoming wrap up shows are currently running so please vote for your favourite SG1 Season 9 episode and Season 2 Atlantis episode.
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The 2014 Leo Award nominations have been announced and as you might expect there are quite a few former Stargate actors and production people on the short lists this year, no doubt I have missed a few out particular from behind the camera so visit the site and peruse at your leisure.
Michael Shanks
Ryan Robbins
Andy Mikita
Alessandro Juliani
Paul Mullie
Joseph Mallozzi
Ben Cotton
Jennifer Spence
Katharine Isabel
Michelle Harrison
Michael Eklund
Ben Ratner
Christopher Heyerdahl
I don’t think I will be alone in thinking how great this Stargate Model would look on a wall or a shelf, thanks to TheEnchantedBeer for sharing and more details can be found here.