Volnek Archives - Gatecast

Gatecast 226 SG1 Arthur’s Mantle

May 312014

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:)

Promo…

Pulp Audio Weekly

Links…

Mentions…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Gatecast 206 SG1 Babylon

Episodes No Responses »

Dec 142013

SG1 along with support from SG22 are on an alien world in search of the legendary warriors of the Sodan who are a group of Jaffa who were the first to break away from their System Lord masters many thousands of years earlier. They chose not to interact with their former brethren and live apart and slowly fell into the tales and legends of the remaining Jaffa but new information encourages the SGC to search them out. The team are ambushed and while under fire Mitchell is wounded and taken by the Sodan who are unable to retrieve one of their own wounded who was captured when SG22 joins the fight. Cameron is taken to the Sodan village where he is trained to a standard which will give him a fair chance during an honour fight a consequence of drawing Sodan blood but is troubled when he sees that the Sodan are falling under the spell of the Ori. Meanwhile at the SGC the captured Sodan is questioned and they attempt to prove to him that the Ori and their Prior’s stand for everything the Sodan rejected so many generations ago.

Where’d they go?

Well what can you say about this episode that doesn’t sound like I am sucking up to the producers, writers, director and cast? Not a lot because the episode looks fantastic, the new location village is movie quality and the music haunting and doesn’t suffer from the comparison to The Last Samurai even though the plot is similar. We have some excellent guest stars as well with Tony Todd, William B. Davis and the brothers Jarvis W. and Jason George all of who really add depth and value to the episode. The story opens up the Jaffa element of the show which has for many been a dying arc and both elements of the story work very well together.

Nice swords dude!

Well we can’t talk about this episode without mentioning quite a few references to Star Trek, the fight and it’s result hark back to Amok Time and even Cameron comments on the fact by calling Jolan “Bones” yet as always it’s done with a huge nod to the audience which makes it fun and not cheesey in any way.
We can also overlook the Tom Cruise connection, the stranger in a strange land is not a new story idea and it’s done in two ways within this episode both of which pay off but not to the level I think many of us would have hoped for.

This is the final regular episode of Gatecast in 2013, the next four episodes will be bonus shows which feature subjects which are not Stargate but have very definite ties to the franchise and we will be begin with the Seaquest episode “Vapours” which has the DeLuise clan in attendance. Many thanks for the feedback, we got some good chat over on the Facebook page and as always twitter has been busy and we are still seeing some nice business being done over on our G+ page. We would love to hear from you and there are plenty of SG1 and SGA episodes that await a guest host so if you fancy doing a show with us check out the schedule (Tab at the top of the page) and get in touch and we’ll see about sorting out a date and time. We know given enough notice that recording with guests from far flung locations and timezones is quite possible so don’t let that worry you either.

We have a couple of promo features in this episode, first up is HEXED: Sisterhood of the Supernatural and then Michael Clark’s new project Visionary Trek, check both of them out:)

Happy holidays, enjoy the show and stay safe.