Jul 302016
 

Justice

The mid-season finale of Stargate Universe is entitled Justice and brings forward the conclusion of the ongoing issues with Sgt. Spencer who more than many has been having serious issues and coping with self medication. Now we know that whatever drug he has been taking has run out and his behaviour has become more extreme over the last few weeks culminating with an assault and bullying of Franklin in particular. The events that take place on Destiny are shocking but offer an opportunity for both Rush and Wrey to gain control over the ship and while both are complicit in the events as they unfold as always Rush has his own very personal agenda.

Justice (29)

Justice begins with a truly humorous scene more so because Greer is at its center, there is a good bonding moment between him and some of the scientists which gets derailed when he investigates the missing Spencer and finds his body with a bullet hole in it’s head but no weapon. The scene certainly implies suicide but the missing gun points to at worst murder and at best some other nefarious plot. The weapon is found in Young’s quarters by Eli and Wrey uses this to undermine the military control of the ship through a hearing (approved by the IOA) but much to her annoyance Chloe is treating the hearing with respect. Wray was looking for an easy takedown but can’t seem to handle the fact that a civilian could be arguing for due process and a balanced look at the facts. It’s quite clever that the writers didn’t give us any reason to really like Camille but then they gave us her homelife and a 180 degree turn in her character but now back on the ship she’s back to well her professional self and not much to like there. Spencer himself was another character we were not meant to like, we knew little about him and his stealing of supplies and mysterious drug use were red flags but ultimately he was perhaps the first of the true casualties, he was broken before reaching the Destiny and had no avenue to seek help, others sacrificed or were selfish or simply met an unfortunate end but Spencer was a victim in the truest sense. Eli once again is feeling the pressure of being privy to secrets and of course we get the final straw of the fragile relationship between Young and Rush. Pity the discover of the spaceship on the planet came so late in the FTL downtime, who knows what they could have learnt.

Many thanks to Thomas for joining us this week, a few technical issues which meant no clean audio for some of the show but that was a temporary issue. Our thanks to Mack for the feedback as always and to everyone that supports the show on social media our heartfelt gratitude. This weeks promo is for Tuning Into SciFi Tv and next week we return for the episode Space, we hope you can join us for that:)

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Feb 162013
 

avatar2 Poisoning the Well tells the story of a once strong civilisation which had been decimated time and time again by the Wraith but had secretly and with much sacrifice been able to maintain their historical and scientific records through each culling. Armed with this developmental leg up the survivors rebuild quickly and while never reaching the levels they originally scaled the grand design of developing a medical defence to the Wraith has been maintained throughout the centuries.

We join the episode as the Hoffans get access to Dr Beckett who brings Atlantis technology and human experience to the problem and a breakthrough is achieved and even better they have Steve the Wraith to test the compound on. The big problem is that to deliver the drug a live host is required but they get a volunteer and within limits the experiment is a success so much to the Hoffans fling themselves into large scale trials on a global scale despite strong and realistic objections from Carson. Sheppard is capable of seeing the big pictures and realises the Wraith while taking an initial hit would figure out the cause and simply nuke the planet from orbit thus removing the problem and then go to another world to feed.

Not exactly a tourist spot.

Not exactly a tourist spot.

Perhaps this approach would have had merit if the Wraith were not already on the rampage, if in hibernation a safe drug could have been devised and spread throughout the Pegasus galaxy but ultimately the delay between infection and reaction would probably always allow a good portion of those on board the hives to take steps.
In the real world there are no weapons that can kill an invading force at a stroke, Hollywood with Avengers and ID4 really took the easy way out.

Steve!

Steve!

The huge bonus from Poisoning the Well is that the writers really give Beckett something to do and Paul McGillion just ran with it and this episode may with the already growing fan approval of Carson could have secured the actor with a full time first season role rather than simply recurring.
This weeks promo is from Nuchtchas and her Nutty Bites and next week we’ll be covering the Stargate SG1 episode “Covenant”. As always continued thanks for listening to the show and keeping the Stargate family busy with news and conversation plus lots of cat pictures.

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Feb 022013
 

avatar2 A routine recon through the gate leads to the jumper being disabled by some form of advanced energy dampening device. Stranded on the world the team discover a society of young people no older than 25 who believe that if they kill themselves on their 25th birthday it maintains a community that is too young for the Wraith to being interested in culling. McKay discovers an ancient type device powered by a ZPM which is powering the shield and it’s that which has kept these people safe from the Wraith, maybe should not have turned it off and taken the ZPM to Atlantis. Meanwhile a power struggle between the current leader and next in line leads to an open confrontation between bow and arrow armed youngsters and the P90 equipped SG team while Wraith probes scan the planet for food.

Childhoods End was the only episode of Stargate directed by David Winning and it received many plaudits for the direction. It is a very highly produced episode, the location shooting of the camp is very well done and there is some top notch matt paintings as well a very atmospheric lighting effects. Perhaps the highlight is McKay’s interaction with the two children who pretty much act exactly like kids exposed to new people and new things, intense curiosity classes with the typical McKay intolerance but this time chocolate comes to the rescue.

Atmospheric woodland.

Atmospheric woodland.

I certainly would have liked to see David Winning direct more Stargate episodes but it never came to pass for whatever reason but everyone involved with this episode worked well and we got an entertaining story with a little backbone although there were certainly deeper aspects to explore if the writers had gone that way.

Peek a Boo

Peek a Boo

Many thanks to Brad who took time out of his work night to record with us, it was around 3am in Australia and well you can’t buy that commitment:)
This weeks promo is from Tuning Into Scifi TV and next week we are going to discuss the SG1 episode Affinity. We got some feedback from Facebook and a new itunes review from Ryan which we are very thankful for and if you want to get in touch then you can do so via the links on this website or by email. We can also be found under Gatecast on Facebook, Google+, iTunes and Stitcher Internet Radio as well as on Twitter.

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May 072011
 

A routine mission takes a twist with the death of a member of SG5 and Daniel seems to suffer a mental breakdown after being on the mission with that unit. SG1 investigate and they too come under the influence of a Goa’uld device and their only hope is a young boy who has been living onto this world alone for many years.

Pretty

Very cool

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Well that’s not a long synopsis is it?

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This episode from a production side is excellent, the set design and visual effects are some of the best we’ve seen and the acting from Kristian is excellent and it has to be since there are some long scenes while totally rely on his role. That said the overall episode is fairly weak although it doesn’t help season 4 has been pretty strong so this standalone was already up against it which is a shame since you can see the quality and effort on screen more so than some other episodes this season.

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