Aug 102013
 

avatar2 As the inhabitants of Atlantis gate off world and the self destruct timer is engaged and incoming wormhole is a bit of surprise for it brings a fully equipped SGC military unit responding to the message sent a few weeks previously. Colonel Everett introduces himself and takes command reasoning that this is now a military not civilian situation but with John’s backing Weir regains her place at least to the point of being involved. The SGC has sent nuclear weapons to be used as space mines and more importantly a charged ZPM which was recovered from Egypt thanks to the fortunate events as told in the SG1 episode Moebius.

Alas and of no great surprise the Wraith detect the mines and reign down space rocks which detonate the mines and make the cities sensors useless leaving the way open for an air assault by hundreds of Darts, it’s repelled in a brutal fire fight but that was just round one. Teyla convinces the Colonel to let her people help to patrol the city as Wraith have been beaming down and thus a fully on battle for the city beings in the air and on the ground.
The only ace in the hole they now have are two atomic bombs secured by Weir from the Genii and in the hour of desperation John takes one in a stealth jumper to detonate inside a Hive and yes folks to be continued…

Google maps has improved.

Google maps has improved.

The Siege Part 2 is an epic season finale and cliff hanger for Atlantis. The arrival of the units from Earth was serendipitous to say the least but ties in wonderfully with Letters From Pegasus and Moebius. The  animosity from Everett is an interesting twist but maybe no one on Earth can fully understand the Wraith until the see them or experience them right there and then so leaving a man a friend behind from a military standpoint was the right choice and we know John made the right call. We also got to see the Colonel lighten up after his first brush with the Wraith and accept Teyla and her people’s help in defending the city and again Torri got some good dialogue to deliver proving that Weir has her place in the show when written well.

Pretty from a Distance

Pretty from a Distance

The special effects, set design and props for this episode are incredible, it’s hard to imagine that only a decade earlier this sort of spectacle was still impressive in the cinema and totally unheard of for television. While other big scifi tv franchises had their fair share of epic battles this combination of Earth tech and Alien tech was stunning and lets not forget the audio and sound effects used to compliment the graphics, everything has to work together.

Really looking forward to the third part of this trilogy in the season two premiere of Atlantis and the changes that come with this second season. A big thank you to Jeff for joining us once again and he will be with us for part 3 and thanks to everyone for posting and responding on the various social media portals. Next week it’s the Stargate SG1 wrap up show and the week after the Atlantis Wrap up show complete with poll results so please join us for that and pay a visit to Nutty Bites this weeks promo, a funny and geeky podcast hosted by our friend Nuchtchas.

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Aug 032013
 

avatar2 As the fleet of Wraith Hive ships and cruisers close on the Atlantis star system Rodney and two others take a jumper out to the Ancient satellite with the intent to repair the weapon and then spring a surprise on the Wraith when they enter the system. Rodney draws the short straw and has to don the space suit and re-route some energy conduits but the attempt is a success  and the satellite drawing power from a generator is armed and ready. Meanwhile back on Atlantis after failing to locate a suitable new Alpha site Bates is found seriously beaten, with their previous animosity Teyla is the prime suspect but after scanning the DNA remnants on the wounds Carson identifies that presence of a Wraith in the city and so the hunt begins. Bob the Wraith is captured and John interrogates him rather aggressively with no practical results as to why he sneaked into the city or his plans once the fleet arrives and arrive they do. Grodin is alone on the satellite and is successful in taking out the first hive ship but the fix fails and the weapon loses power leaving the other two hives to rip the satellite to pieces as Rodney and  Miller watch on from the cloaked jumper.

The Siege is a trilogy of episodes bridging the first and second seasons of Stargate Atlantis.

This is a big story and you can understand why a couple of the previous episodes were bottle shows, the amount of money spent on the sets and CGI would have been significant and while Part 1 isn’t all action there is enough flash and bangs to make you happy with a good bit of drama with Teyla and Bates and then Grodin.

TheSiege1 (48)

Knife through butter

In all honesty when you watch part 1 you always have to ask yourself why is everyone so confident, it’s not as if full coverage of the star system with multiple weapon satellites prevented the fall of the city ten thousands year previously and while I suppose you could say it’s pure hope and maybe desperation but you do see much in the way of believable worry or trauma. Ok we get a little shock when the satellite is taken out and they lost Peter but Weir as a commander should takes it in her stride and it was good to see Rodney willing to go into the line of fire to attempt a rescue of his colleague. It’s also worth mentioning the use of sort of red shirts and the introduction of a new character who you would assume would be the sacrificial goat of the story, a nice twist.

Ok, who hit Bates?

Ok, who hit Bates?

We got a nice discussion going over on the Facebook group for last weeks episode, plenty of back and forth on twitter and even a +1 and share over on G+ so that’s always rewarding but there can never be too much feedback and listener interaction so in that respect feel free to get in touch about our show or Stargate. We’ve put up the episode list for the next 10 months or so just to make it easier for anyone to find an episode they fancy joining us for and then it can be reserved and closer to the date a time can be arranged along with the bits and bobs required to make the recording possible:)

This weeks promo is from The Book Cave a resource dedicated to the more pulp side of literature, lots of author interviews, news and discussion so if like me you like that sorta thing pay them a visit.
Many thanks to Jeff for joining us for this episode and he’ll be back for part 2 next week. The following two weeks after that will be the domain of the two wrap up shows which include the results of the listener polls.

 

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Jul 132013
 

avatar Teyla is having some troubling nightmares involving the Wraith, it may be a little anxiety due to the approaching hive ships or something a lot deeper. She shows an obvious lack of focus when sparring with John and he makes sure she has her first contact with the expeditions psychologist Dr Heightmeyer and after being told to rest and not gate to the Alpha site she eventually has a face to face with the psychologist and reveals that some of her people used to hear voices and so a visit to Carson is on the cards. He flies Teyla to the mainland where she meets Charin an elder who lets Teyla into her own secrets that she is a descendant of one the people returned to their world by the Wraith and it was these returnees who had the “gift” to hear the Wraith’s voices.
Upon returning to Atlantis and armed with this knowledge they attempt through hypnosis to engage her gift and she is successful in accessing Wraith onboard the approaching hive ships but in a twist a Wraith gets access to her but one thought remains, they want the Earth. The Alpha site is then compromised and Bates who is sure it was Teyla sees his paranoia about her people raise a notch. The rewards of knowing what the Wraith are upto swings Weir into deciding to attempt the contact again and Teyla gets possesed and pretty much kicks ass until Bates stuns her with a Wraith rifle but what now, can Teyla with her Wraith DNA ever be trusted?

Victim... I mean patient secure

Victim… I mean patient secure

The Gift is an episode which allows Rachel to exercise her skills as well as giving the prosthetics a good work out, we also get some valuable information on her people and background but make no mistake this also paves the way for the bigger budgets required for the season finale.
The episode doesn’t get any rave reviews but I personally think it’s required to add depth to Teyla and her people but also allows for an extra bit of impetus and potential conflict for The Siege and well it gives Bates something to do. We’ve seen in Stargate SG1 that the Gou’ald have at times experimented on humans to achieve some payoff so it’s no surprise the writers of Atlantis chose to use that plot element once more, I’m not sure it really paid off in the grand scheme of things but it’s perfectly fine for this episode. Teyla has some good character pieces with Dr Heightmeyer played by Claire Rankin and yes we have a psychologist/therapist on a scifi show that actually does her job.

I'm a doctor not a.....

I’m a doctor not a…..

We had a bumper crop of feedback for Threads on our facebook group and a few other things so that was obviously a popular episode, I wonder how it’s doing in the poll, when not check it out. The promo this week is Pulp Audio Weekly which is just geeky fun so why not click on the link and have a listen, you may just enjoy their show.
Many thanks to Brad for joining us this week and next week we discuss part 1 of the Stargate SG1 Season 8 finale “Moebius”.

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  • Have Closed, results in the respective wrap up shows.
Jun 222013
 

avatar2 After the discovery of three Wraith Hive ships heading towards Atlantis the expedition sends
out a jumper to intercept the fleet and to gather reconnaissance data in the hopes of finding
a weak spot. Of course the original Atlantians were unable to fight off the Wraith so there
is little hope for the survival for the city and it’s single ZPM but we humans are a stubborn
bunch and that may just save the day.
John and Teyla observe the Wraith fleet and are shocked to see the three huge hive ships
along with smaller cruisers and hundreds of darts engulf the planet and with the gate engaged
they are unable to escape and have to cloak and watch the planets people be culled.
Meanwhile back on Atlantis McKay has created a compression algorithm to allow the bulk
of the discovered Atlantian database to be sent back through a 1.3 second duration
wormhole and just as importantly personal messages to friends and family. We see a number
of personnel record messages, some formal, some casual, some full of themselves but they
all open up the respective characters.
When John and Teyla return to Atlantis with a handful of survivors the final task is for John
to record the message about the death of Colonel Sumner and then the message is sent,
maybe the first and final call from Pegasus to the Milky Way.

Party Time, Wraith Style

Party Time, Wraith Style

Letters from Pegasus combines the action and drama with the very dangerous covert mission
to observe the Wraith fleet with the talking heads fun and games back on Atlantis, for me there
is really no separating them in terms of quality and entertainment, both are excellent for very
different reasons. It was interesting to see the military aspect of John’s training come out when
it came to choosing between saving Orin and his family and reporting back but Teyla wasn’t
made at him too long. It was also fun watching everyone record their messages especially
Kavannagh who still has not forgotten being dressed down by Weir and maybe McKay after
all he posturing offer up a simple message to his sister about the value of family.

So Close...

So Close…

We got a little Facebook feedback and some twitter interaction during recording of which we
are thankful for, the same for Jeff who joined us for this episode. The audio quality is a bit
hit and miss as volume levels were variable and it picked up a little echo on occasion. This weeks
promo is from The Saturday B Movie Reel and next week we are back with part two of the
Stargate SG1 episode Reckoning.

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Have Closed, the results will be in the respective wrap up shows.

May 252013
 

avatar2 It’s Elizabeths birthday something she kept quiet about but John has his methods and presents her with a hand made piece of pottery. Meanwhile the search for premium quarters in the city goes on with Rodney really looking for a balcony but they do find a lab with a stasis chamber intact but with an occupant. The woman looks very old and upon investigation it seems she has been asleep for around ten thousand years, infact since Atlantis was first abandoned and sunk beneath the waves.

They revive her and she is both aware and comprehending of the situation in fact she seems to know a lot more than she should including the personnel of the base and specifically Dr Weir herself but that is reasonable when they discover she is Elizabeth transported back in time and from another timeline and then set in motion the events as they transpired when this expedition arrived on the city.

Did you make it John?

Did you make it John?

Before I Sleep is an excellent episode of Atlantis and rivals some of the best of the whole
franchise, it has depth and emotion combined with a solid scifi story element and some top
notch make up and body double work. The use of footage from the pilot to add weight to
the story was well done and it was interesting to see those that would become the Ancients
during their darkest hour as the Wraith were coming close to victory. The introduction of the
time ship in this series also pays off with the similar ship seen in SG1 which is pivotal in it’s
season finale.

Where Am I ?

Where Am I ?

We got plenty of feedback for last weeks episode on Facebook and Brad sent us a nice long
voicemail for this weeks so the episode was a little long, I dropped the news and birthdays to
keep the show under an hour so enjoy and please let us know what you think. We’d love any
feedback especially audio and itunes reviews/ratings but no pressure:)

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Apr 272013
 

avatar2 While exploring Atlantis and accessing some of the recent water damage areas of the city members of one of the teams vanish and their screams echo over the radio, rushing to their aid they find the two experiencing hallucinations and both violently convulse and die. Weir orders a lockdown and McKay reads the riot act to some of the scientist as to the limitations and restrictions when dealing with an as yet unknown contagion but John of all people seems to ignore Weir and her big picture thinking to chase down one of the scientists and that in turns starts another ball rolling. Atlantis itself engages containment protocols and with a time frame put onto the “infection” drastic measures are the only solution and even then Weir is unconvinced they are the right steps to take.

Hot Zone is a story set on Atlantis and draws from existing lore and opens up a new potential long term thread in regards to who was responsible for creating the “virus” especially given that it shows a bias towards the standard human genome. It’s interesting that we get a very definite clash between John and Elisabeth in the story, there have been occasions before which offered this potential but none have been exploited to this extent. Given the events in the finale and with plenty of hindsight you wonder if they were preparing the way for a change in John’s long term status or other more fundamental change, either way the clash of military and civilian was carried through pretty well.

Foreplay?

Foreplay?

McKay once again has his moments and his character continues to evolve in the episode building upon the events in The Defiant One, he’s not quite upto the heroic Rodney he will become but he is getting there and we do find out about his sister, more of her to come in later seasons.

Floating in a Tin Can...

Floating in a Tin Can…

Overall an average episode, some good bits but falling short of some of the better episodes from the first season. Next week we are back to SG1 with the Harry Maybourne episode “It’s Good to Be King” we hope you can join us for that. We have some feedback from Facebook and G+ which was most welcome and again we always appreciate any comments etc on past, current and future episodes of Stargate and Gatecast.

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Apr 132013
 

avatar2 A jumper is crossing the Lantean solar system en route to a mysterious object detected at the lagrange point, they discover a huge weapons platform believed to have been the last line of defence for Atlantis, it seems undamaged but obviously failed to prevent the siege of the city by the Wraith.
The sensors find a weak signal being broadcast from a nearby planet so with Weir’s permission they go and investigate and find a crashed Wraith cruiser which may have been a victim of the weapon prior to it’s shutdown. The ship is around 10,000 years old and no life signs so foolishly as it turns out Mckay, Sheppard with Doctors Abram and Gall enter the wreck and find that it’s a supply ship having stored thousands of humans intended to feed the invading Wraith fleet. Disturbingly it seems some of the bodies were Wraith and had been fed upon indicating that near the end they had turned on each other but surely no one could have survived this long?

Well that looks perfectly safe

Well that looks perfectly safe

Of course we knew they did so as the team split up the two red shirts sorry scientists are attacked and the Wraith learns the whereabouts of the jumper leading to a one on one chess game between Sheppard and the sole survivor to escape from the planet.

Looks a little upset

Looks a little upset

The Defiant One is a cracking episode, we get a huge piece of the season finale puzzle with the weapons platform and some very good character growth with McKay as he struggles with his in built survival traits and the desire to not let Sheppard fight alone. The two secondary characters are excellent for the story, Abrams doesn’t last long but the discussion between the aged Gall and McKay was excellent and both actors were top notch and it’s conclusion heart breaking and quite dark for Atlantis. We also got some great interaction between the Wraith and Sheppard as they each tried to out maneuver each other, excellent costuming, prosthetics and stunt work in the desert made for compelling television and a great fireball to wrap it all up.

A huge thanks once again to Brad for joining us for this episode and next week we are going to join General Hammond on board the Prometheus and be amused as a single Kull warrior nicks it, yes it’s the awesome Prometheus Unbound and Jeff will be joining us for that show. The promo this week is from our friend Nuchtchas with her Nutty Bites podcast, great geeky fun with excellent guests and discussion, have a listen and enjoy:)

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Mar 022013
 

avatar2 Teyla leads a mission to one of her peoples former trading partners who have the resources to supply the city with Tava beans a local and useful crop similar to a sweet potato and they need it as McKay is eating them our of house and home, rationing is not in his mindset. Upon arrival they are greeted by Sora and her father Tyrus who with some caution bring them to the local community leaders and negotiations begin with medicine and eventually explosives offered (for land clearing) in return for the crops.
Events take a twist when Sheppard and McKay discover a underground complex which is very definitely not in the spirit of the Genii farming communities and the charade is revealed, the Genii are far more advanced then anyone believes and they use the cover of farming to hide their society from the up coming culling and pretty much everyone else.
Ultimately the Genii are too self centred to be totally trust worthy in the same way as the expedition, neither side would ever compromise enough to make a real partnership work so the events on the joint mission against a hive was only the immediate cause for the collapse of the alliance rather than the underlying reasons.

Hi bloody Ho

Hi bloody Ho

Underground is a wonderful story and we meet for the first time an advanced Pegasus human culture and unfortunately for the expedition one which is strong willed and militaristic, as with many western societies long term trouble is born based on short term trade and more to the point military assistance. Colm Meaney rocks every scene he is in and Erin Chambers is wonderfully deadly with a really sunny appearance both in farmer and military guise, it’s great that we get to see both of these characters and the Genii later in the series. The episode also serves to open up the bigger picture, the true threat of the Wraith is revealed even though they must have had a large fleet to take the battle to the Ancients with over 60 hives (maybe more) the task ahead of the expedition looks beyond them and it’s only a matter of time before the Wraith coming a calling or is that culling.

Tastes like Chicken

Tastes like Chicken

A huge thank you to Jeff for joining us this week, Underground was an episode he wanted to be a part of and when ever possible we’ll try to get a third voice into the mix, if you fancy joining us then drop us a line and while a few episodes have been spoken for (SG1 and SGA) there are still plenty more. We had a little feedback this week via Facebook, a few birthday notices and a bit of news and we are always looking for community input on Facebook, Twitter, G+ and the Gatecast website. If you want to get in touch then you can use the feedback options on this website or visit us on the above social media portals and if you are of a mind an itunes review/rating is Stargate gold:)

This weeks promo is from the women of Tyrion’s Landing a Game of Thrones podcast and next week we are back with Stargate SG1 and the episode Sacrifices as Ishta returns and Teal’c gets a surprise, no she is not pregnant.

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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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Dec 152012
 

avatar2 Thirty Eighty minutes is the length of time a wormhole will remain active without serious manipulation via huge amounts of energy to sustain it so when a puddle jumper is trapped in a space gate and partially within the event horizon the clock is ticking. To make matters worse Sheppard has been bitten by some sort of giant instinct which has disturbingly similar traits to the Wraith by feeding on his life force when it is damaged and even attempts to free the ship may implode it’s power core and the energy will feed back to Atlantis with catastrophic results.

Thirty Eights minutes is a very good episode to have in the first season of any scifi show, we get plenty of character development as well as action and brings in more secondary characters who may or may not been seen again and if so only seasons later. This episode also lays a lot of the practical groundwork for the emergence of the Wraith which went hand in hand with the genetic manipulation the Ancients did in the Pegasus galaxy.

Touch it, I dare you.

Touch it, I dare you.

Sheppard doesn’t really have much to do whilst strapped to the bulkhead of the jumper but is the focal point of the events onboard and also in the events on the Wraith world they visited, it was there that they realised that the “mountain” had been a rather large space ship which had pulled up it’s roots and flew away.

Wasn't there a mountain here?

Wasn’t there a mountain here?

We also get introduced to Dr Kavanagh played by Ben Cotton, he is written as a annoying individual and played wonderfully as such and of course Dr Radek Zelenka my personal favourite character from Atlantis played to a tee by David Nykel. The only really strange piece of the story is the clash of cultures between Weir and Halling although that was probably a ham fisted attempt to strengthen the events in the following episode.

This weeks promo is from the Saturday B Movie Reel a font of B movie scifi/creatures feature and disaster reviews. Thanks once again to Brad for sending us in an audio comment and for everyone who participates via the various social media portals. Next week we are going to be releasing a special episode in which we’ll talk about MacGyver and Richard Dean Anderson/Christopher Judge fifth season episode “Live & Learn”.

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  • Saturday B Movie Reel

 

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