Stargate SG1

Between Two Fires

The members of SG1 attend a memorial for Omoc the Tollan who they encountered a few years earlier. They were surprised to be invited but find out from Narim ( Garwin Sanford ) that despite his rather gruff personality Omoc respected them. Even more surprising to Jack and company is the revelation by High Chancellor Travell ( Marie Stillin ) that her people are reviewing their willingness to supply Earth with military hardware, Narim is quite shocked at the turn of events but as is pointed out Omoc was one of the hardliners when it came to restricting technology and now he’s gone….

When they return to Earth Sam reveals a device that Narim secretly handed to her, a small holographic image conveys a warning that Earth in in danger. General Hammond and his superiors are keen to explore the possibilities of trade with the Tollan but as the current situation with these people is explored more and more questions are posed. Alas as light is shed on the investigation a startling even shocking glimpse at the truth is revealed which explains the decisions being made by those in charge of the Tollan.

Between Two Fires is the third episode which concentrates on the Tollan people (Enigma & Pretense being the first two) and as we learnt they are safe from the Goa’uld thanks to a few centuries of technological development whose pinnacle is the ION cannons. Behind these weapons their world is safe but as Anubis begins making moves the knowledge he brings to the galaxy is tipping the balance. To save a world’s population what isn’t too far fetched for a leader to consider?

It is a question Narim has to find an answer for and maybe not being at the highest political level allows him to see more of the details those in power may be willing to overlook. Travell despite knowing that the Tollan weapons will be used to kill millions is willing to put her people in servitude to the Goa’uld even to the point of taking drastic action within the Tollan society. Narim has throughout supported the choice to not spread their technology amongst people who could use it for extreme violence so making the choice he does fits his character even though it condemns his people to their fate but alas a fate the would eventually have come at the whim of a System Lord.

Many thanks to Tim for joining me on this episode of the podcast and choosing an excellent episode to discuss. It’s been a while since I’ve talked Stargate on the podcast and it’s well past time I got back to the core intent of the show. The upside is also watching more Stargate so wins all round. If you want to join me on the podcast then please get in touch, I currently use skype and a headset to record so as basic as it gets and once you choose and episode then an hour or so chatting about it is easy to do. You can contact me via any of the usual social media portals as well as email etc. If you’ve listened via a podcatcher/streaming service that has a rating/review system then a positive comment would be most welcome. So until next time keep listening, watching and enjoying Stargate.

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Legend

Skeletons in the Closet

Here we are for the final episode of Legend the 1995 single season (half at that) which starred Richard Dean Anderson and John de Lancie. In this concluding episode entitled “Skeletons in the Closet” we see the Professor experimenting with moving pictures using a zoetrope with Ernest aka Legend as his star although that’s after using the young female school teacher. All is going well until they discover a skeleton buried in scrub brush, he obviously died a while back but with a unique ring on one of his fingers. Ramos takes the skeleton into the nearby town of “Bell” but runs into indifference it not outright hostility from the sheriff.

Ramos is troubled by the way he and by extension his people are treated especially the dead and leaves the service of the Professor and goes undercover as an itinerant worker for Seamus Calhoun (John Vernon) who is known to be a collector of Aztec and Mexican artifacts. The Professor and Ernest naturally search for Ramos and after a not too pleasant meeting with the sheriff they make enquiries with the locals who reside in town. As you would expect they discover that greed and desire for the artifacts drove someone to murder and soon they too become the target for the villains gun wielding enforcers.

Oh, worth mentioning that Lara Flynn Boyle makes an appearance on this episode.

Skeletons in the Closet takes a dark turn and is perhaps the most serious of the season as well as giving Mark Adair-Rios (Ramos) plenty to do as he carries the episode. Throughout the season the show has attempted to represent the native cultures in a positive light (with various degrees of success) and again the message is clear thanks to the violence, intimidation and legal indifference in this script. It would have been interesting to see where the second half of the season went but perhaps the mix of light fluff and delivering social observations is a hard trick to master. At the end of the day I’m thankful we got this show, it was a lot of fun and in hindsight a stellar list of guest stars from the old school (movies and tv) and fresh faces that went onto bigger things.

My thanks for listening to the show and especially my coverage of Legend and the plan is to get back into talking about Stargate. There were a few episodes of SG1 and Atlantis that I was not present for when recorded for the Gatecast so I might find a guest and record shows for them. If you want to be on the podcast then you can contact me through the usual social media or email etc and all you need is a headset/mic and access to the likes of skype and we are in business. So until next time once again thanks for listening and if you have a minute a rating or review on whatever podcatcher/streaming service you used would be most welcome.

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Legend

Clueless in San Francisco

During an epic experiment the Professor is interrupted by the arrival of a woman who is looking for the services of Nicodemus in an attempt to find her family, she had been found as a young girl in the plains by a local tribe and raised to womanhood. Ernest takes some convincing as he was looking forward to vacationing in Chicago but a trip to San Francisco with Paytents ( Molly Hagan ) could provide a wealth of ideas for his next novel.

Upon arrival the group are mobbed by the press but finally make it to the family home of Ernest Pratt and we are introduced to his mother Delilah Pratt ( Janis Paige ) and her eclectic assortment of guests. As the investigation continues we learn that someone is strongly motivated to get Paytents and Ernest out of the city even threatening his mother with eviction. Ernest has a close encounter with the agents of the “bad guy” and returns home to find Paytents has been kidnapped but the Professor has a few ideas. Eventually as you would expect the mystery of Paytents is revealed as is the motive for the actions taken against Ernest and we also learn a lot about the boy that became the man that became Nicodemus Legend.

Clueless in San Francisco was a rather different episode compared to the rest of the season, there seemed to be a real effort to flesh out Ernest as well as put in a healthy dose of social commentary. There were laughs of course and great performances from everyone involved, seriously they were all great and sold their characters well especially as some were painted a little on the large size.

If you fancy joining me on the podcast then you can get in touch over any of our social media portals or via email and we can arrange a chat about Stargate using a basic mic/headphone and suitable app which is likely to be skype (old reliable). We are now also carried by Tune In and Amazon Music so more ways to listen to the podcast. Alas only one episode in the Legend series left and that should be my next show before we go back to concentrating more on Stargate so stay tuned and enjoy.

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Legend

Revenge of the Herd

On this latest new episode from the Stargate Archives we’re back in the wild west for episode 9 of the one and only season of the Richard Dean Anderson show “Legend”. In this episode Ernest is pressured by his publisher to host a hunt for Ludwig Hauptman (Reiner Schöne) a visiting dignitary from Europe, given money is involved Ernest is eventually persuaded to lead the hunt for Buffalo.

Ernest together with Bartok and Ramos venture into the plains secretly hoping they do not encounter any Buffalo but alas they do but before their guests can slaughter a few harmless beasts a local tribe intervene taking everyone prisoner. Ernest is able to talk himself out of being killed and eventually comes to an agreement with the leader of the Arapaho band named Towashie (Rodney A. Grant) to free everyone. The fabled Buffalo spirit is brought to life thanks to Bartok and it’s presence scares off all the intruders but a few weeks later Ludwig returns with more armed men…

Revenge of the Herd is once again an entertaining hour of television, Richard Dean Anderson is naturally excellent alongside and abled supported by John de Lancie. The guest stars especially Rodney and Reiner were very good easily falling into the more farcical side of this show.

It also has to be said that for a 90’s tv show there were willing to push or at least comment on some of the political and social issues inherent with white colonialism and the treatment of native populations. Just having Native American actors playing their people (if not always of the same tribe) is a step up from use of brown face on many movies and tv shows before and of that era.

Once again many thanks for listening and if you want to be on the podcast get in touch via any of the usual ways, pick a Stargate episode and we can chat about it for an hour or so, it’s as easy as that. Until next time take care.

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Legend

Bone of Contention

We return to the world of Ernest Pratt aka Nicodemus Legend as he gets himself involved in the conflict between the pursuit of science and the pursuit of money when Dinosaur fossils are discovered near Sheridan soon followed by death and betrayal.

When a man dies bringing a dinosaur fossil to the Professor the search is on for the location of the find and who is responsible for his death. After Ernest is knocked unconscious he wakes much later with Beth McMillan (Beth Toussaint) watching over him, some mild and unsuccessful flirting later he along with Bartok are tasked to solve the mystery of her dead brother. Naturally things get complicated when a mysterious stranger appears in town who may or may not be a Federal agent but his allegiance is questioned after some vigorous investigation by our dynamic duo. Ultimately the race is on to discover the exact location of the dinosaur and for the truth to be revealed.

Bone of Contention was a lot of fun, we get Ernest suffering from writer’s block and having strange dreams, a mystery involving a dinosaur and a young woman in need of assistance and quite a few twists and turns on the way to the resolution. No outstanding performances in this episode but all the guest actors played their parts well in this entertaining and well written episode.

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Legend

The Gospel According to Legend

Religion comes to Sheridan when an old nemesis of Ernest arrives leading a revival ministry and posing as a preacher. Naturally Ernest is sceptical but is he any different after all he makes most of his income while pretending to be someone else….

Ernest attends the first sermon and it soon becomes apparent that Mordechai ( Robert Englund ) has an agenda beyond preaching the good book and Professor Bartok is the key to whatever scam is being run. As the mystery deepens Ernest and Bartok travel to Denver in search of some information on who is funding Mordechai but find themselves in dire straits hogtied as the mob complete with burning touches seek to cleanse the Professor by fire.

Well that was an intense episode, a fantastic performance by Robert as he chewed up the scenery something this show does require from its guest stars. The story itself didn’t follow the plot I had imagined and that was refreshing and there was some great writing especially the speech from Bartok in regards to freedom and tolerance provided by living in America. Overall great fun and well worth a watch.

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Hathors Hosts

Simone Bailly

Legend

Knee-High Noon

Cattle rustlers are becoming a nuisance and Legend is tasked to capture them but gets distracted when a woman (Laura Davenport) comes into town seemingly a fan of both Legend and Ernest with a small favour to ask and which she will be very grateful if it could be granted. As it turns out her son (Ben) is living his life in the footsteps of Legend and needs a talking to, her husband having passed and thus Ernest gives him some sage advice, gets his photo taken and returns to the matter of the missing cattle.

Naturally Laura ( Mary-Margaret Humes ) is not quite on the level, it turns out that she has an agreement with the publisher of the Legend novels to add a spin off character namely the son of Legend and young Ben is playing the part. Ernest is not pleased to say the least but is kinda cornered due to pressure from Laura and his publisher so the cattle rustling certainly looks more appealing. The Professor has devised a cow shaped surveillance device and by some miracle they manage to capture one of the rustlers but his brother gets away. Looking to retrieve his brother from custody the kidnapping of Legends son is put into motion and Ernest despite seeing the positives of Laura and Ben being out of the way can do nothing but fly to the rescue…

Knee-High Noon was an amusing episode from the fake cows to the legend that is Legend nearly being brought to its knees by lawyers and contracts. Ernest surely will learn that allowing your creation to legally be in the hands of someone else is not good for creative freedom. A tip of the hat to Mary-Margaret who put in an excellent performance of a character both as clever as any but with a devious dark side and the bad guys where very well played as well. Oh, I really did not like young Ben so credit there as well.

I’ve got some more episodes of Legend to watch so I may be covering them in the short term but as of now I have no Stargate chats in the can so will have to address that as well. In that regard if you want to join me on the podcast then just get in touch and with your chosen live action episode from the franchise we can have a chat for an hour or so and hey that’s all it takes. Reviews/Ratings are always welcome as is simply helping to promote the podcast on social media so until next time stay safe and enjoy Stargate.

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Stargate SG1

Entity

A routine MALP transit to P9C-372 does not go well when the remote device suddenly begins to float away and high energy discharges are observed, a feedback signal is also detected which grows in strength at which point Jack manually shuts down the systems but people are still hurt as the overload peaks.

Sam and Walter are taken to the infirmary but are not badly injured and in a later briefing they confirm that a signal from P9C-372 has “infected” the computers and a decision to shut down, purge and reload code is decided upon. However the “entity” has been watching and makes plans to isolate itself in a MALP running off the emergency power, a clever idea which is successful. When the events in the MALP storage area is discovered Sam interacts with the workstation and is taken over by the malicious code but we learn that this visitor was responding to the “attack” on its world and alas it can not return to the machine now it is housed in the brain of Carter. Daniel is keen to keep negotiating but Jack is more belligerent, he threatens to launch more MALPS to the planet unless the entity releases Sam and when backed into a corner it flees in Sam’s body forcing Jack to shoot her twice with a Zat….

Entity was chosen by first time guest Bryn who really enjoys Amanda’s performance in the episode which on the surface doesn’t require a lot of effort but when you watch the episode you realise she is interacting without talking and with minimal facial expressions. Granted Jack in particular provides a sounding board but no denying for such little dialogue the “entity” persona works well. The episode overall has the feel of a bottle show, main cast and existing sets but give this was also the first HD filming experiment the investment could have been significant. A good stand alone episode of SG1 with the main cast front and center and some spooky Terminator 3 / Farscape vibes were felt but that could just be me.

Many thanks to Bryn for getting in touch via twitter and agreeing to come on the show, we had some technical issues but resolved them and ended up chatting for a couple of hours with her episode front and center. If anyone fancies coming on the podcast then please get in touch via any of the usual social media portals, pick any episode from any of the live action series and we can chat over skype (or other app) and it is that easy.

Ratings and Reviews are most welcome but as always keep watching Stargate and don’t be afraid to shout your love of the fandom from the highest tower, one day we may just get more Stargate.

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Third Rock From The Sun

Auto Eurodicka

In honour of the birthday of French Stewart we’re releasing the Gatecast bonus episode of Third Rock From The Sun entitled “Auto Eurodicka” in which the family look to purchase a car and Dick makes a new friend. The episode also features a number of the DeLuise family.

In Auto Eurodicka we find Dick Solomon going to watch a movie recommended by Mary Albright, he meets Anita and he quickly enters into a casual sexual relationship with her, being Dick he can’t keep his mouth shut about it and has no shame in sharing the details until in the middle of class he reveals her name and finds that she is the mother to one of his students. The “B” plot of the episode deals with Sally and her infatuation with a Dodge Viper and her attempts to acquire the car.

Third Rock from the Sun was an excellent American sitcom, I own the DVD boxset and you can dip into the show anywhere you want for a few laughs. As you’ve seen there is plenty of Stargate links in this episode and the series as a whole (thanks to French Stewart) but we also got William Shatner making a very memorable appearance from the fourth season onwards.

Links…

• Auto Eurodicka IMDB

• Third Rock from the Sun Wiki

Stargate SG1

Beachhead

A Prior of the Ori arrives on the Jaffa world of Kallana and offers the people Origin, they turn him down but he states that this world will still serve the Ori as he proceeds to eliminate the Jaffa and raises a large energy shield around the Stargate. Nerus ( Maury Chaykin ) a former confederate of Ba’al sends a message to the SGC and when he arrives he offers information to defeat the Ori invasion of the Milky Way.

Carter turns up bringing with her a MK IX enhanced nuclear device designed to destroy a Stargate and the team along with Vala travel to the planet onboard the Prometheus. After talking to the Prior and getting no satisfaction the nuclear weapon is armed but before they can act Jaffa ships arrive and open fire…..

Beachhead is a strong season nine episode of Stargate SG1 and marks a pivotal point in the story as the Ori begin their invasion of our galaxy. An interesting choice for the writers to give us the win but clearly demonstrate that the big picture favours the Ori tremendously. I’m not sure how much I appreciated the way Vala was treated even though she is not part of the team, her advice and action proven to be instrumental and she paid for her willingness to act. That aside the production was of a very high standard, good solid acting especially from the late Maury Chaykin and getting Louis Gossett Jr. on the show was great casting.

My thanks to Tim for joining me on the podcast and for choosing an excellent episode to chat about. His podcast (Uncharted Territories) has wrapped but when he and Stacey return to the medium we’ll let you know. Ratings and reviews are most welcome and if you want to be on the podcast then please get in touch (email, social media etc), just pick an episode from any of the live action series and we can chat over skype for an hour or so.

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Legend

Episode 5 “The Life, Death, and Life of Wild Bill Hickok”

In this latest episode from the Stargate Archives we return to the 1995 Richard Dean Anderson series “Legend” and it’s fifth episode which deals with the arrival of Wild Bill Hickok a true legend of the west. In this episode Wild Bill (William Russ) arrives in Sheridan to recruit Nicodemus to capture the Jack McCall gang on behalf of the railroad. Ernest of course is not overly keen but well you know how it goes, he’ll get himself in the middle of this mess regardless.

After finding out that Wild Bill is having eye sight issues the Professor is brought in and after some eye tests hey presto Wild Bill is more or less cured which is a good thing since his failure in the recent gun fight has reached the ears of Jack McCall who decides that Legend needs dissuading from Wild Bills crusade. After a failed attack Ernest and the Professor track the gang via their ballon unknowing that Wild Bill is also tracking via horseback. They come to each others rescue after an ambush and after some chaotic events Ernest gets captured and finds out that Jack may hate more or less everything the literature of the dime novels is his pet peeve and berates Ernest for his slap dash storytelling and factual accuracy. A rather unexpected but entertaining twist in the narrative and portrayed wonderfully by John Pyper-Ferguson. Thanks to the professor Wild Bill is able to launch a successful attack on the camp but Jack gets away and Ernest is unable to convince Wild Bill to walk away so they take the prisoners to Deadwood and the two legends part ways….

Later that day Wild Bill goes to pay poker in the saloon and sits with his back to the entrance and soon after Jack walks in and shoots Wild Bill in the back, he slumps over dead and his cards aces and eights fall to the table.

What a blinder of an episode, two great new characters both portrayed excellently and a narrative that works well as pure fiction but slips between the gaps left by a legend of the west. Not sure about the choice of music for the scene in Deadwood but despite that it was still powerful more so for a basically comedic adventure series.

I’ll probably be covering another Legend episode next as everyone is busy over the holidays but as always love to hear from you and check out our social media presence and a review/rating on your chosen podcast app is always welcome.

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Stargate Atlantis

Condemned

The team take the jumper through the gate to a world whose people are called “Olesian” who practice an unusual form of punishment for those that break their laws, naturally it turns out that there is far more going on once the team dig beneath the surface of this society.

The team visit the Olesian city and begin an agreeable dialogue with the Magistrate played to perfection by Alan C. Peterson who reveals the island which holds the gate is a penal colony, on return to the gate the jumper comes under fire and is brought down. On Atlantis Elizabeth is worried when there is no contact with the team and visits Olesia along with Major Lorne and support personnel. The Magistrate is friendly and states that everything will be done to locate the missing Atlantis people despite the danger the prisoners could represent, he believes only his only people should search and for now Elizabeth agrees. Meanwhile the team are the prisoners of the de facto "head honcho” named Torrell ( Christian Bocher ) who demands that the jumper be repaired by McKay or else he will execute the others. As time goes by Elizabeth gets more concerned over the delaying tactics of the Magistrate and when she learns from Marin ( Kyla Anderson ) that anyone regardless of the crime is sent to the island and this food for the Wraith. The team eventually escape from captivity thanks to help from one of the native prisoners but it was a setup and they are once again captured but now Rodney has acknowledged that while he can not repair the jumper he can get the DHD working. Naturally this is the time the Wraith appear in the form of a single dart and we learn that the Magistrate is sacrificing his own people to prevent a global culling but as two cruisers fly towards the gate they are fired upon by a drone and all hell breaks loose. Elizabeth in the second jumper supports the grounded team and the native prisoners escape to a unknown world and the Atlanteans return home leaving the Magistrate and his people to feel the wrath of some hungry Wraith.

Condemned is an entertaining episode and well chosen by Tim, the strength of the episode rests more with the two outstanding performances by Christian and Alan but the story is strong and the production levels hit the high bar Atlantis has set for itself. My thanks to Tim for coming on the show and choosing an good episode to chat about, if you want more of Tim then he co-hosts the long running Uncharted Territories Podcast which I’ve listened to for many years.

If you want to join me on the podcast then please get in touch directly or through social media, chose an episode from SG1, Atlantis of Universe and we can chat for an hour or so over skype and yep it’s that easy. The next episode from the Archives will probably be from Legend since I have to arrange some new guests and hopefully get some recordings in the can during the upcoming holidays. So until next time keep enjoying Stargate, rate and review us if you can and take care.

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Stargate Universe

Gauntlet

The Destiny is running scared as the Drone fleet ever present continues to threaten whenever the opportunity presents and with new sensor scans the threat becomes ever more clear as every viable star that could refuel the ship is blockaded.

With no immediate hope from Earth the only option is to run a blockade to gain access to a stargate or planet to gather resources by setting the shield frequency to the Drone weapons but after initial success the drones switch to ramming tactics which the Destiny shields can no longer block. Eli knowing this tactic has no long term value comes up with a desperate plan to leave this galaxy on a low power consumption journey to the neighbouring galaxy. The only drawback is that the only way this will work is if the crew are in the pods but before that happens some of the pods will need fixing and the only way to source a particular element is to run another blockade the reach impact sites for meteorite debris. This achieved the crew go into pods eventually leaving Young, Rush and Eli who then have to deal with a faulty pod and who has to shoulder the burden of saving themselves or putting the ship and crew ahead of their own survival….

What can I say, Thomas chose an excellent episode of Stargate Universe and one of the best from the entire franchise. The whole two seasons of Universe lead to the decisions made by the crew and the individuals all of who exhibit the growth we have watched them show throughout the journey. It may be wrong to highlight Robert, Louis and David but their scenes together were magnificent and the focus of the finale but the supporting cast both regular and recurring signed off with aplomb.

We may never know the fate of Destiny in live action television form (check out the comics if you will) but the two seasons of Universe were overall a joy to experience and the finale hit the sweet spot of leaving the long term fans satisfied but still yearning for more.

Many thanks for listening to the podcast even though the release schedule is far more lax than the Gatecast and if you want to join me via skype then pick an episode from any of the the three live action shows and get in touch, we can sort out a date/time and get a show recorded. You can find us via the various links on this website including the usual social media portals and a review/rating on the podcast portals would be most welcome.

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Legend

Episode 4 “Custer's Next to Last Stand”

In the fourth episode of the season Ernest becomes involved in the doings of the famous George Armstrong Custer who is touring the Forts in the region while investigating corruption within the war department. Ernest naturally ends up in the deep end after Libbie Custer (former friend) asks for help and her husband announces to the world Ernest will be writing an expose on the corruption. Thanks to the genius of the Professor they uncover some proof of wrongdoing by the licensed trading posts that support the US military but in doing so they put themselves and everyone else at further risk.

Will Ernest or should we say Legend save the day?

Another entertaining episode, certainly tongue in cheek and a little campy at that but the writing is spot on and both RDA and John deliver great performances. Alex Hyde-White (Custer) and Ashley Laurence (Libbie) both are great onscreen and the bad guy (Richard Cox) is wonderfully menacing. I would say however we have seen enough of the Legend flyer/glider and maybe even the balloon.

I’ll be covering further episodes dotted in between the regular Stargate coverage and looking forward to watching more Legend, a fun show which I can recommend for fans of RDA.

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Stargate SG1 - Prisoners

SG1 are exploring a seemingly empty world full of "trees and moss" when they hear a noise and a running man appears, he is scared and speaks of the Taldor. SG1 agree to help him and moments later some sort of airborne technology emits a blinding light and they find themselves under a huge spot light in a vast empty space. There SG1 are "tried” for crimes against Taldor and while many of the offences can be argued their help of a murderer can not be excused and they are sentenced to life in captivity. They are sent through the gate to another location deep underground and find themselves in an enclosed biosphere where the guilty are sent by the Taldor to live out their lives but there is a structure to the society down below and so there is hope.

A woman named Linea ( Bonnie Bartlett ) is by the application of knowledge and influence is in charge and when approached by SG1 with Sam taking the lead we learn much of the backstory of Taldor and the prison, she also reveals that she has a form of cold fusion which Sam is convinced can power the gate thus allowing manual dialling. The goal now is to stay alive long enough to enact their plan while unknown to them General Hammond is getting rather upset with SG1 (diplomatic team) and these advanced aliens who are not playing ball.

Prisoners is a good solid episode, the set location of the prison is excellent and the minimal use of expensive CGI has no doubt allowed for a little more money for set dressing. Bonnie plays Linea to perfection and while a lot has to happen in a little over 43 minutes it never seems rushed and provides a good second season episode.

My thanks to Brad for picking this episode and joining me on the podcast, if you would like to follow his lead then please get in touch and we can arrange a time to chat over skype about your favoured or even least favoured episode from any of the live action series. Visit us on Facebook or Tumblr or follow us on twitter, reviews are most welcome on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or Google Play.

Not sure yet what the next episode will be but I’ll probably watch another Legend episode.

IMDB Wiki

Legend

Episode 3 “Legend on His President's Secret Service“

In the third of the one and only season of Legend we have Ernest being drawn into a suspected assassination plot against Ulysses S. Grant the current president of the United States, the suspect is one Colonel Ethan Catridge Steele played by Ken Jenkins. The Colonel’s daughter Abigail sort out Legend in the hopes that he could sway her father’s actions but Ernest ignored her concerns and returned home from his promotional trip to Texas. There is is confronted by two secret service agents who turn out to be working for the Colonel and only then does Ernest realise he may have got himself into the middle of a very dangerous situation which only gets worse when an actual secret service agent escorts him to see the President ( G.W. Bailey).

The result of these various meetings sees Ernest along with the Professor and Ramos traveling to Texas, they make contact with Abigail but learn there is a definite plot against the President. At this point even Ernest let alone Legend can not ignore events surrounding them so escaping capture they rush to aid the President and his Wife onboard the train.

Legend on His President's Secret Service was yet again an enjoyable piece of television, Richard playing both Ernest and Legend is able to deliver the humour and action you would expect from him and is ably supported by John de Lancie and this weeks excellent guest stars. I didn’t think I would like this show as much as I do, it’s dated in production terms but not in story since it was set way back when and truth be told there are some nice pieces of cinematography and special effects in the episode which hold their own.

If you want to join me on the podcast to talk Stargate or even Legend then please get in touch, I could really do with a few more guests if for no other reason than to force a faster turn around on recording and releasing content. No excuse I know but some people can do the one man or one woman podcast, that’s not really my thing but either way I hope you enjoyed my take on this episode.

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Stargate SG1

Season One

Kree or not to Kree

Well here we are again trying to spice things up a little and thus the beginning of a new series of podcasts which take a look at each season of Stargate and decide if each episode is really worth watching for someone new to the franchise or those like us who have rewatched many a time.

Brad joined me for this quite lengthy discussion of the first season of Stargate SG1 and while the concept of see it/skip it is well established for podcasts coming up with a unique tag for each option proved difficult. We eventually went with “Kree” which is a versatile word but only when editing did I realise Harlan had the perfect word to partner the Jaffa word. Anyhow enjoy the podcast and as always if you fancy joining me to talk Stargate then get in touch and we can arrange something.

Legend

Episode 2 “Mr. Pratt Goes to Sheridan”

Here we are for the second episode in the one and only season of Legend as Ernest returns to Sheridan to make it his home both for the advantages being friends with the Professor provides as well as some gentle pushing from his publisher. Naturally the townsfolk are overjoyed to have their hero return but Ernest is still having problems adapting to life as his alter ego Nicodemus Legend and things get a little complicated when a notorious bank robber and accused murderer (Jimmy Siringo ) states he will only give himself up to Legend in person. There is of course much more to the story and much to his chagrin Ernest finds himself in Tucson along with the Professor investigating the bank robbery and death of a guard and planning for the arrival of Jim.

Well I said I was going to be watching the series and I decided I might as well make it part of the podcast although I may have to revise the idea of recording with my ipad, the audio is a little flat/dull. Anyhow the episode was a lot of fun although the plot was not unfamiliar to me but then again if I had seen this episode when it was originally released then the shows that came after would have been picking plot points from this. Originality isn’t quite dead and ultimately it’s how you present a story to the audience and the writers by combining good old fashioned integrity and honesty with modern forensics gave us a twist that worked very well. There was also plenty of humour as you would expect and a healthy dose of western themed hijinks, all told and enjoyable episode of television.

The next podcast will probably be looking at the first season of SG1 as a See It/Skip it overview and look for the further advances of Legend in the feed over the next few months. As always reviews and ratings are appreciated as is any social media sharing. If you want to come on the show and talk Stargate then please get in touch, I would love to have some new voices on the podcast as well as drawing on the many people that helped us through nearly 400 episode of the Gatecast.

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Stargate SG1 “The Tomb”

Evidence found outside the entrance of a Ziggurat on the planet P2X-338 indicates that a Russian team had visited the world recently, further investigation confirms that a team had been lost on the world prior to the Russian program being shut down after the events of Watergate. A Russian team arrives at the SGC and together with SG1 and with the data which instigated the initial Russian interest they gate to the planet and eventually gain access to the ziggurat. Inside they find the remains of the team and it looks like something had eaten them, a sarcophagus is found, sealed from the outside. Colonel Zukhov however triggers a pressure plate and as the structure quakes the entrance is sealed, Lt. Marchenko is lost in the attempt to escape. Zukhov opens the sarcophagus and finds the remains of the System Lord Marduk and again the bones show small teeth marks, whatever finally killed the Goa’uld took a long long time to do it and maybe was responsible for the demise of the first Russian team and with that the two teams find themselves in a battle for survival with a small and fast moving creature as well as the symbiote which as they are oft to do survive until an opportunity presents itself.

The Tomb was an entertaining episode and the reluctant integration of the Russians was done well, storywise it had to happen after all once the Russians knew of the Stargate program and contributed via the DHD they were not going to let the Americans do whatever they wanted. Naturally the episode plays up Jack’s annoyance with the situation and we get to see the complications that can arise with a different military mindset and an additional intelligence/security endeavour. The episode won a LEO award for "Best Production Designer in a Dramatic Series" and rightfully so, the design, construction and realism of the ziggurat set combined with the excellent shadow and dust filled scene filming hid nothing from the viewer and looked spectacular.

My thanks to Tim for joining me and choosing this episode to discuss, he is currently doing a series rewatch and may well be finished by the time this podcast got released. Tim co-hosts the Uncharted Territories podcast and also takes part in Partial Nerdity, check ‘em out.

If you want to join me on the Stargate Archives then get in touch and choose any episode from SG1, Atlantis or Universe and we can have a chat over skype for an hour or so. I’m also going to be a doing a season by season See It/Skip It show (Recorded the first with Brad) and may well continue with Legend, time will tell.

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Legend

Birth Of A Legend

In this podcast I was looking for something Stargate related I could watch by myself (not as much fun on your own but you make do) and I remembered the Legend television show I bought on DVD last year but never got around to watching. Legend was a short lived show starring Richard Dean Anderson and John de Lancie about the adventures of Ernest Pratt a novelist and a scientist providing futuristic tech required to fight crime in the wild west. The show premiered in 1995 on UPN with the feature length “Birth of a Legend” in which Ernest has to travel to Colorado to figure out which his creation “Nicodemus Legend” was being credited with saving some settlers and had a warrant for his arrest for pretty much the same reason. Upon arrival he is recognised as “Legend” but soon discovers that he has been manipulated by Professor Janos Bartok (John de Lancie) who through technology moved the course of a river to make sure the local farms survived and that Vera Slaughter (Stephanie Beacham) could not control the town and its surroundings for her own nefarious purposes.

Ernest despite all his self preservations instincts find himself more often than not helping the locals and becoming more like his creation Legend and with some of the fancy technology provided by the professor takes on the bad guys through investigation and action. Naturally a lot of luck and the help of the locals make all the difference but Ernest finds the best of himself outside of his dime store novels and together a new dynamic duo is formed, desperados beware.

The premiere episode of Legend was a lot of fun, surprisingly not that dated or at least I didn’t find it difficult to watch, yes some dialogue is cringe worthy but overall a fun introduction to the mashup of the western narrative along with the action and I suppose you could call it a dab of science fact if you stretched your imagination a little. RDA was everything you can expect if you are familiar with MacGyver and Stargate and I suppose as a big fan of the latter I have to be thankful that Legend only had a short run. RDA along with Michael Greenburg via Gekko Productions quickly moved on to pitching and securing the Stargate tv show via MGM and Showtime and the rest is history.

A little trivia as John de Lancie had also guest starred on MacGyver and letter went on to guest star on Stargate SG1. In many ways John never really made the “A” time but his resume is huge and eclectic and within the scifi genre and voice acting worlds he has made a name for himself which will least generations.

I hope you enjoyed this look at Legend and I am sure I will be watching the rest of the season in due course. The next show will probably be back to Stargate proper, I have a few feelers out for guest but always looking for more so if you want to join me and talk about a favoured episode from the franchise please get in touch, would love to hear from you.

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Stargate Atlantis - The Daedalus Variations

A Daedalus-class battlecruiser (BC-304) appears above the planet which is the current home of Atlantis and is identified as the actual Daedalus even though it is believed to be in the middle of the jaunt between Pegasus and the Milky Way. The team travel to the ship in a jumper and detect and energy signature and signs of some battle scarring on the hull, they enter and find all the fighters are missing but one jumper sits alone. Confirmation is received that “their” Daedalus in nearing Earth with no problems reported and after some minor differences are observed in the ship they reach the conclusion this is a Daedalus from somewhere else, they discovery of a teams dead bodies ramps the spookiness up ten fold.

McKay identifies the source of the energy reading and believes that it is a drive system designed to move the ship between universes/realities perhaps an offshoot of experiments into zero point energy or the more exotic goals as seen in the episode Trinity. However the system is running on automatic and when power storage reaches a specific level the drive is initiated and the ship jumps. They cross paths with an alien starship engaged in battle with Atlantis, the star as a red giant and a debris field perhaps the building blocks of the planet itself. Faced with limited resources McKay believes reversing course and letting the ship jumps “backwards” will eventually get them back to their universe but time is short and the dangers faced already will have to be dealt with again.

The Daedalus Variations is an excellent episode of Atlantis and a great scifi story, the concept is nothing new with the franchise but this is done is a very slick manner with some stellar CGI and good use of existing sets with a few tweaks. A few bones were thrown hinting at threats beyond the known or maybe just what ifs either way the alien threat matched anything the Borg offered (at their best) but perhaps the natural threats were more compelling. The episode wasn’t demanding on the actors although McKay dealing with the baby was pretty priceless but the ass kissing by John on John went a little too long. Overall a very good and atmospheric episode, highly recommended.

My thanks to Brad for picking the episode and joining me via Skype to chat about it, always a pleasure to have him on the podcast and hopefully he will be back. As always would love to get reviews and ratings and open offer to join me on the podcast, get in touch with your choice of episode and we can arrange a time to record (headset and skype required).

IMDB WIKI

Stargate Author Interview

T. Fox Dunham

This week on the Stargate Archives I was joined by author T. Fox Dunham (aka Fox) who had his short story “Hermiod’s Last Mission” included in the Points of Origin anthology published by Fandemonium. His other work tends to focus in the Horror and Supernatural genre as seen by his prolific output in anthologies but he has also written three novels covering very different subjects. We talk in the interview about Mercy, The Street Martyr and Hermiod’s Last Mission (all three I have read and reviewed elsewhere) as well as Destroying the Tangible Illusion of Reality; or, Searching for Andy Kaufman. We also chat about his outlook on life having to deal with the demands of making a living by writing and dealing with major health issues.

It's no surprise that I can highly recommend picking up the Points Of Origin anthology which is a superb collection of Stargate related short stories and Hermiod’s Last Mission is a beautiful piece set in the Atlantis storyline but has strong ties to the SG1 episode The Fifth Race.

If you have an interest in Horror then Mercy is wonderfully dark as it deals with a supernatural element emerging in a hospital while The Street Martyr has a strong crime slant and deals with the base elements that infect humanity with no need for outside influence. I enjoyed both novels and my chat with Fox flew by and hopefully you will enjoy the discussion as much as I did.

Check out Fox’s published work over on Amazon and don’t forget to leave a review, the promotion of an author’s work is key to their income after all and just like podcasters we like to know someone appreciates our work be it for a living or as in my case a hobby.

Fox is also a host on the What Are You Afraid Of Podcast which features stories and interviews.

The next episode from the Archives will be a look at The Daedalus Variations with my guest Brad and should be out this month. I also have to schedule some more recordings so if you are interested in chatting about your favourite episodes of Stargate then get in touch as we can arrange something.

Links:

• Twitter

• Amazon

• Official Website

• Blog

• Hermiod’s Last Mission Wiki Fandemonium

• What Are You Afraid Of Podcast

Stargate SG1 - The Fifth Race

Daniel discovers very old and interesting text on some data returned by a probe, it matches one of the languages discovered on the world that was home to Ernest Littlefield and indicated that at least four alien races were allied. General Hammond authorises a mission and Jack is pretty much bored silly until he looks into an alien device which then grabs him, strobes lights into his eyes and then when released he collapses. Upon return medically he checks out but he starts to draw some interesting things and then substitutes alien language for specific English words. Dr Fraiser discovers some worrying things about Jack’s brain which precludes him from joining Sam and Teal’c on a mission which goes off the rails very quickly.

Jack who is quickly losing his ability to communicate never the less creates the solution to the Stargate problem which is preventing Sam and her team from returning to Earth. He returns once more to constructing a mysterious piece of kit which he then connects to the power systems of the mountain which directly feed the gate. As the system copes with the power the dialling computer accepts an eighth symbol and Jack is allowed to step into the unknown without a GDO….

The Fifth Race is my favourite episode of Stargate SG1 due to the combination of world building/mythology, great chemistry between the characters and a good dose of drama and humour to bind everything together. It is truly a wonderful scene as Jack meets the Asgard and they without question help him and give him just a little bit of information to makes a few things make sense. Oh, the music is fantastic as well.

Thanks to Ian for joining me this week, he’s been very busy but we got the recording done before christmas and as with my more relax release schedule two months here we are. As usual reviews/ratings are most welcome and feel free to get in touch especially if you fancy coming on the show and talking about your favourite episode from SG1, Atlantis or Universe.

IMDB WIKI

Journal Entry Six

The comments and observations of an unnamed member of Stargate Command after the reactivation of the base under General Hammond.

Stargate Atlantis

Trinity

The team exit a space gate and arrive in orbit around the world of Doranda to find huge amounts of Wraith Hive ship wreckage, closer inspection of the planet finds only devastation apart from one structure noticeably more advanced than the surrounding construction. They venture down and find an Ancient outpost relatively unnotched by the battle that had obviously been waged ten thousand years ago. McKay discovers that this was the focus of experiments into power generation from a subspace realm within out own universe unlike the ZPM which generate smaller scale output from a sterile pocket universe. Despite the bodies and the failure of the experiment (well apart from powering a weapon which wiped out the Wraith) McKay is convinced he can get it to work. Weir is obviously concerned but bows to the pressure from Colonel Caldwell and Shepherds own flag waving for McKay.

It isn’t going to be any surprise that things go spectacularly wrong (this is McKay we are talking about) and well the technology and a good chunk of the solar system are lost. Meanwhile Ronon and Teyla have been off world (Belkan) seeking trade deals and Ronon meets some fellow survivors from Sateda including his former military taskmaster (in a good way) Kel who it turns out betrayed his oath and sacrificed his men to aid hos own escape when the Wraith attacked. Ronon being well Ronon takes steps…

Trinity was chosen by Thomas and he picked a mighty fine episode of Atlantis. We get good character growth from McKay, Teyla and especially Ronon whose back story needed filling out as well as a very entertaining main story allowing McKay and John to take center stage and to see how they react when things go badly wrong. A learning experience for everyone involved you could say,.

My thanks to Thomas for joining me on the podcast to take Stargate Atlantis Trinity and hopefully he will be back at some future time to talk about another favoured episode. If anyone wants to come on the show and chat about their favourite Stargate episode then get in touch and we will arrange something. Check us out over on Facebook, Tumblr, G+ and of course Twitter as well as Apple Podcasts and Stitcher, a review/rating would be most welcome.

Trinity - IMDB WIKI

Mega Shark vs Mecha Shark

Commentary

Welcome to this call back to the Gatecast era when we would take a step away from the pure Stargate discussions and cherry pick shows/movies that featured the cast and/or crew from the franchise. As it turned out this year Alan was on call and wanted something to pass the time so we got together over skype and watched and chatted about Mega Shark vs. Mecha Shark which starred Christopher Judge.

In Mega Shark vs. Mecha Shark Christopher plays Jack Turner who along with Rosie (Elisabeth Röhm ) have developed a shark submersible which leads to a full military contract to provide a much larger vehicle. The smaller vessel also includes an advanced AI but when a Megalodon escapes from an iceberg and begins to run amok in the south pacific only the as yet untested “mechashark” can save the day.

The movie was produced by The Asylum who are well known for their straight to DVD or Pay TV offerings at the lower budget range, they often produce highly entertaining movies as long as you don’t hold them up against production with tens times the budget. Yes Mega Shark vs. Mecha Shark was never going to win awards (in any category) but it was fun and had some real laugh out loud moments.

IMDB

Stargate Universe

Hope

On this episode of the Stargate Archives I am joined by Evy via twitter who has been following us for a while and commented on a previous episode (Malice). I asked her if she was interested in chatting about another of her favourite Stargate episodes and she said yes and chose the excellent Universe episode “Hope”.

In the aftermath of the Lucian Alliance assault on Earth the failure of the communications stones has left Destiny all alone. The loss of Ginn and Amanda has hurt Eli and Rush respectively but the crew are extremely worried over friends and family at Homeworld Command and given the resources of the Alliance maybe even Earth itself. Round the clock use of the stones continues and Dr Volker seems to be slightly the worse for wear, it turns out he has had an existing condition which without medication had led to a kidney issue, the only solution is a transplant. Greer is a match but even with the Ancient tech accessible there is little to help TJ who has never had the training for this sort of procedure but Young pretty much paints a black and white picture, try or he dies. Meanwhile Chloe while on stone duty is overwritten by the consciousness of Ginn who is not aware of anything happening, she is shocked to say the least to find out she was murdered and Amanda while linked also died. The brain trust go to work trying to understand what is happening and conclude the mind is energy and remains just not in the same form and like Franklin perhaps the Destiny computer can provide a safe harbour for Ginn and later Amanda while preserving Chole body and soul.

Hope is an excellent episode of Stargate Universe, great drama and they played the humour to the max to offset the dire circumstances. Greer really shone while TJ handled the pressure well and the other plot elements allowed Rush and Eli to work together and interact where their significant others to a degree only science fiction allows for. The crew as a whole learnt that their home was safe and certain members certainly were given new opportunities and not forgetting the “family” dynamic a few of the characters offered, yeah who would have thought Greer would turn out to be such a decent human being.

My thanks to Evy for joining me and chatting about one of her favorite episodes of Stargate, if you want to guest on the podcast then get in touch and we can sort something out. If you fancy giving a rating or review then would be well received but for now glad you enjoyed the podcast, keep watching Stargate and lets hope 2019 sees some movement from MGM for it’s return to television.

IMDB WIKI

Burn Notice

Lesser Evil

This is being posted on the 15th of December which is the birthday of Michael Shanks and I thought it was worth releasing our Gatecast bonus episode look at Burn Notice onto the Archives feed.

Alan and myself watched and discussed the Burn Notice season two finale “Lesser Evil” which has Michael Shanks as a guest star playing Michael Westen’s nemesis Victor, the episode also features Tricia Helfer. In this episode the season arc concludes as Michael goes on the offensive against the Management and their operatives in an attempt to win his freedom.

Michael Shanks only appeared in four episodes of Burn Notice playing the former spy Victor who is now the operative of the Management tasked by his handler Carla (Tricia Helfer) to corral Michael and convince him to play ball. Of course in Burn Notice the plot is full of twists and turns and it was Victor who was often pivotal in setting events in motion by appearing in the right place at maybe the wrong time. The finale of the second season finally gives us plenty of interaction between Victor and Michael which is full of good dialogue and acting from both performers and provides both drama and tension with lots of action. Carla was a recurring character in the second season and Tricia is always a delight to watch perform on screen, she was able to play the "bitch" with flare and style putting Michael in his place time and time again with a ruthlessness few could match and between Tricia and Shanks we got two very good guest stars this year. As always Gabrielle (Fiona), Bruce (Sam) and Sharon (Madeline) provide the strong support a complex spy/action drama requires, each of them brings something to the story which allows Jeffrey (Michael) to remain center stage and work his magic.

We can highly recommend Burn Notice thanks to its humour and drama with a spirit that in a small way echoes some of the 80's serials as the "heroes" struggle against overwhelming odds making the most of everyday items to fight off drug dealers, spies and bad dudes.

The next batch of episodes released should all be new content as I have pleased to have a number of guests on the show who are picking their favourite episodes of Stargate to chat about. If you want to join then please get in touch, would love to get some of the old guests back on and as many new voices as possible.

IMDB

Official Site

Journal Entry Five

The comments and observations of an unnamed member of Stargate Command after the reactivation of the base under General Hammond.

Previous

MacGyver

Pilot

Welcome to this bonus episode of the Stargate Archives as I take a look at something while not directly under the Stargate banner is in one way or another associated. In this case one Richard Dean Anderson starred in this seven season series broadcast in the states on ABC from 1985 onwards.

In the premiere episode named “Pilot” it opens up with MacGyver on a mission to gain access to a military weapon which was being carried by a downed US aircraft, he finds the pilot also survived so in the MacGyver way he finished his mission and rescues the pilot.

The main story then begins after the quite impressive title sequence as a high security research facility is bombed but there are survivors. MacGyver is asked to lead the rescue operation although at his point the structure of the organisation he works for is unknown he has the option to refuse. He doesn’t of course and with a time limit thanks to the leak of acid which could corrupt the Rio Grande he descend into the huge underground complex battling the obstacles the explosion has created.

This opening episode is very entertaining, the short story prior to the titles pretty much spells out exactly who MacGyver is and what the general goal is going to be. The research complex story expands on the basic ideas and throws up more character interaction and more puzzles to solve be it with chocolate bars, paperclips or whatever. Richard Dean Anderson is perfect for the role and alas will pay for his commitment to some of the stunt work in later years and while he worked on many shows after MacGyver it was really only Stargate that allowed him to really go to town once again.

Thanks for listening to this bonus show and I am hoping to record more content over the next month and into the new year. If you want to join me then please get in touch, pick any episode from the three live action series and we can chat about it in a very informal manner.

• MacGyver Online

• IMDB

• WIKI

Journal Entry Four

The comments and observations of an unnamed member of Stargate Command after the reactivation of the base under General Hammond.

Previous Next

Seaquest - Vapors

I’m not able to record at the moment thanks to some building work so dug out a Gatecast bonus episode as we were joined by Thomas to discuss the uber DeLuise episode of Seaquest “Vapors”. It seemed appropriate given it was Peter’s birthday this week.

Seaquest is an American scifi series set in the near future. The particular episode is from the second season called “Vapors” and stars four of the DeLuise clan beginning with Peter and Michael who are regulars on the show with Dom as a major guest star and David appearing in a bit part. In Vapors Tony (Michael) is asked by his father Nick (Dom) to help him with a problem as his mother is taking some drugs which are causing a few problems. Tony takes Lucas and Dagwood (Peter) along with him on this adventure and they visit Buddy’s a dance club and smoking establishment which is managed by David’s character. This story is a lot of fun and exploits the dynamic between the DeLuise family and does overlap with the other story line which deals with some of the issues with Bridger (Roy Scheider) and the ships CMO Dr Wendy Smith (Rosalind Allen) with further emotional ups and downs with other members of the ships crew leading to a get together at the end of the day at the Captains beach house.

Vapors is a fairly decent episode for someone new to the series to begin with, it’s pretty much standalone and in many ways does act as a little primer but of course the ship and crew we see in the second season is very much different to that of the first season and more so in the third season. Seaquest had many ups and downs during it’s three year life on television even with the Spielberg name involved but they aimed high and many times hit the mark by providing good adventure stories backed with science and environmental themes to educate and entertain the audience.

A huge thank you to Thomas who recommended this episode for a bonus show and for joining us to record the show, always tricky to sort out a time with someone in the US or any country with a significant time difference but rewarding when it all works out.

Feedback, reviews and ratings are most welcome and if you want to chat about Stargate for the podcast then please get in touch.

Links…

• Seaquest Vapors IMDB

• Seaquest Vapors Wiki

Journal Entry Three

The comments as written by an unnamed member of Stargate Command after the reactivation of the base under General Hammond.

Previous Next

Stargate Universe - Malice

Welcome to the first of the more random coverage of the Stargate tv franchise. I’ve redone the first season of SG1 to my satisfaction and there seems little point in continuing through the second season and beyond. So a change of pace as my guest is free to choose any episode they want to talk about and this time Alan makes a return to chat about the excellent “Malice” from the second season of Universe.

Ginn is dead murdered by her clansman Simeon (played by Robert Knepper) who then shoots numerous guards and now well armed takes a hostage and gates to a nearby planet. Rush in a surge of rage over the death of Amanda (connected to Ginn by the communications stones) follows closely behind only to find the hostage (Dr Park) booby trapped, a ruse to allow Simeon to take potshots at the pursuing force. Rush deals with the device and chases after Simeon deep into the desert landscape. Soon after Scott and Greer with support begin to track both men but Simeon is adept at evading enemy forces and inflicting damage. Meanwhile on Destiny at least one man dies of his wounds and even with partial bridge access they are unable to prevent Destiny from entering FTL. Colonel Young takes a chance on Chloe who is still recovering from her experiences onboard the alien ship and allows her access to the computers, she does something whose results are kept a mystery for dramatic purposes.

Simeon now wounded is only being chased down by Rush, the two men finally confront each other and Rush walks away thanks to his ingenuity and Simeon’s inability to resist the lure of petty violence. Rush returns to the gate and is surprised to find that the crew have gained some control over the ship and maybe his influence is waning.

Malice was a great choice by Alan for the podcast, one of the Universe episodes which is definitely in the story arc but does standalone to a certain extent. Credit as well to Robert C. Cooper for his homage of some classic westerns in feel and presentation and Jim Menard for some staggeringly impressive visuals.

If there is an episode of Stargate you want to chat about on the podcast then by all means please get in touch, would love to hear from you. Check is out on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and (for now) Google+ and if you use Apple itunes then a rating/review would appreciated.

IMDB WIKI

Journal Entry Two

The comments as written by an as of yet unnamed member of Stargate Command after the reactivation of the base under General Hammond.

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Journal Entry One

The comments as written by an as of yet unnamed member of Stargate Command after the reactivation of the base under General Hammond.

Next

Stargate SG1 - The Serpent’s Lair

The second season premiere of Stargate SG1 seamlessly contines the three part story that concluded the first season of the show as SG1 are alone on a Goa’uld ship gearing up for a planetary assault on Earth. The best laid plans are derailed as Apophis in a second ship joins Klorel’s vessel so the C4 planted around his ship will be for naught. The bridge is then breached by guards and SG1 captured and dumped in the brig where they meet a familiar face who had his own plans for defying his God and saving the Earth!

Bra’tac for it is he is a little annoyed with SG1 (after smacking Jack hit the nose) and explains that most System Lords fall at the hands of their offspring and thus he was going to perpetrate a rouse by attacking Apophis in Klorel’s name using Death Gliders. Jack however comes up with a new plan and the merry band are on their way. Meanwhile back at the SGC Colonel Samuels has returned and is implementing a plan to strike the ships with Naquadah enhanced warheads via stealthed missiles. The General can not stop him but continues the transfer of volunteers to the Alpha site just in case the facility if not the world falls to the Goa’uld.

The missiles strike but alas both ships are shielded although Klorel hesitated, the host (Skarra) is proving to be troublesome however Apophis has no time for a whiny kid which isn’t helped when SG1 capture the young Goa’uld and ring over to Apophis ship as the C4 countdown continues….

The Serpent’s Lair is a magnificent opener to the second season of Stargate SG1 and a fitting conclusion to this trilogy of episodes. The production is top notch with some very nice CGI effects, good use of standing sets and well filmed high intensity combat scenes. It would not be SG1 without the interplay between the characters creating drama and humour and the writers and actors delivered both in grand style. An epic adventure!

My thanks to Ian for joining me this week, lots of trouble getting together thanks to real life but we got the show recorded. The plan is to open up the podcast to favourite episodes and other themes as I’ve achieved my initial purpose of the Stargate Archives in offering better content compared to our first Gatecast season. Guest spots are open to all, a skype connection and arranging a time is all that is required so if you are interested please get in touch.

IMDB WIKI

Stargate SG1 - Within the Serpent's Grasp

The SGC is being wound down thanks to the decision made by Senator Kinsey, papers are being shredded, dust covers are everywhere and General Hammond despite knowing the threat of the Goa'uld can not bring himself to openly defy a legitimate order. Daniel continues to try to convince the rest of SG1 on the merits of his experience in the alternate reality and maybe it was just pride but eventually Jack agrees to gate to the address Daniel brought back, Sam and Teal'c volunteer and together the team risk court martial and death to save the world.

They gate into darkness but equipped with night vision they find themselves in a small room full of alien shipping containers some of which contain previously unknown energy weapons which we come to know as Zat guns. Jaffa soon arrive and deploy a huge globe within the Stargate which turns out to be a communications device as this is no base, it's a FTL capable ship carrying a Stargate on route to Earth to meet up with a sister ship and then to reign fire on the Tau'ri. 

This season finale is very very strong, the idea that SG1 risk everything to protect the Earth and everyone in it makes perfect sense given what we have seen of them. There is also a lot of legitimate actions by the rank and file military and political bureaucracy which makes the whole episode feel more realistic, not bad for a scifi show. The return of Skaara (Alexis Cruz) but with a twist was excellent, good use of the character and actor who made the most of this role and more to come. The episode delivers action and suspense and a credible cliffhanger, well more than credible, pretty darn good!

Thanks for listening or maybe just reading, I have plans to cover the season 2 opener to conclude this trilogy of episodes then start cherry picking episodes from the 17 seasons of the live action franchise. It is my hope I can get a lot of former guests back on the show and hopefully a lot of new voices given our format is far more flexible. If you are interested in joining me to discuss your favourite episode then get in touch and we can sort something out. Reviews and ratings are most welcome and many thanks for everyone who has been chatting via social media, the community remains strong.

IMDB  WIKI

Stargate SG1 - Politics

Daniel is in the infirmary having his wound treated and reveals to SG1 his adventure in the alternate reality, they are sceptical to say the least. Complications arise when Lt. Colonel Samuels turns up with a fact finding Senator in tow who has been made privy to the SGC after threatening to make public the $7.4 Billion budget for the operation tagged Area 52. Senator Kinsey claims he has an open mind but it's evident that armed with the mission reports he is more then ready to shut down the SGC and bury his head in the sand to the threat posed by other worlds and the Goa'uld in particular.  

Politics is a clip show with some new content to bind the money saving clips together and ultimately fails as a standalone episode but in terms of allowing the producers to go to town on the season finale then it was probably worth the hit in terms of quality and fan response. Of course having Ronny Cox as Senator Robert Kinsey doesn't hurt one single bit and you have to say any other actor may not have been able to raise the standard of the episode beyond "meh" and boy does he chew scenery. All the main characters get good dialogue to bounce off Kinsey and it is the small amount of new content which demonstrates why Stargate more often than not does a clip show with style even if Politics isn't quite there yet.

So this episode of the podcast was a little different as I didn't want to drag a guest into discussing a clip show so the idea of splicing in some clips mainly from Teal'c seemed to be a good idea. It's also a much shorter podcast than usual given that there is only so much to say based on the amount of new content and no one wants hear the same thoughts on the clips as discussed on their episodes proper. The next episode should be the season 1 finale "Within The Serpent's Grasp" and then we'll do the S2 opener "The Serpent's Lair" thus wrapping up this trilogy.

My thanks to everyone that has been supporting us on social media and of course listening to the show and as always if you fancy coming on then please get in touch, always been great to get new and familiar voices on the podcast.

IMDB  WIKI

Stargate SG1 - There But For The Grace Of God

While exploring a deserted complex SG1 discover a Goa'uld totem indicating to all that visit that the world that it had been destroyed, Teal'c advises that they leave but Daniel is happily exploring and has found what looks to be some sort of research/storage facility full of alien tech. Jack orders the team home but Daniel starts to grab the artefacts and after handling one a large device activates, Daniel's curiosity takes over. He returns to the gate to find that SG1 have gone, annoyed he deals back and finds himself the target for every weapon in the gate room and a demand to identify himself...

It becomes apparent that something is wrong, no one knows him and Catherine Langford is heading up the programme alongside Colonel Hammond and General O'Neill. The Earth is also under heavy assault by a Goa'uld invasion force, cities have been wiped out and then an alien ship is detected approaching Cheyenne Mountain. Daniel with some help finally figures out that the alien device and not the Stargate is responsible for him being in this "other" reality and while these people seem doomed they have intel that could save Daniel's Earth and thankfully they are not so different from the people we know as each gives of their whole to buy time and get Daniel home..

There but for the Grace of God is an exceptionally good episode making the most of the alternate reality trope to give us a look at what could have happened to Earth if one or two things went differently. Given that the episode didn't really stretch itself with major action set pieces or significant new characters it is quite amazing how entertaining it is but many scifi shows have demonstrated that spinning character attributes and situations can prove enjoyable, assuming some restraint is show (DS9 Mirror universe I am looking at you). Michael got to act which is never a bad thing and you got the impression everyone enjoyed doing something a little different and maybe just maybe Christopher took some small pleasure in having the final word with Jack.

My thanks to Ian for joining me again on the podcast, he has been a boon for the Archives as we've gone over the first season of Stargate SG1 once again. Our next show should be the "clip" themed Politics which introduces Senator Kinsey (yay) and then the season finale. We hope you have enjoyed listening and feel free to get in touch if you fancy joining me on the podcast and any reviews/ratings would be welcome.

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Stargate Origins: Catherine

Commentary Discussion

 

Well here we are turning back the clock as I am joined by Alan (creator of Gatecast) to discuss the feature presentation of the Stargate Origins webseries. As you may know the Gatecast was a commentary podcast mainly because getting Alan to watch and make notes of upcoming Stargate episodes was a chore but chatting on the fly as we watched seemed to work. The plan was to do a general discussion following the plot of the "movie" but for old times sake we switched back to a commentary. However the old setup used to watch and record along has become outdated and no longer works and the basic recording system I use know captured some of the video audio from Alan's side of the conversation. It's not perfect but if you choose to listen to this and watch your copy of SGO Catherine then it will sync up or you can of course just listen as we chat.

Stargate Origins was a ten part web series and suffered for it, without any doubt the editing and minor changes to present the story as feature has greatly improved the watchability and yes the enjoyment. I even watched it again with my mother who has been a long time scifi fan and she enjoyed it, not as much as SG1 back in the day but that was to be expected. This feature presentation from MGM is being sold globally (with some restrictions) and is available from various online streaming services (region specific) such as itunes, amazon and google play. If you were/are a subscriber to Stargate Command then you get a pass code/voucher for the movie but if you are not then it's retailing for around $20.

In the story we turn the clock back to 1935 as Professor Langford and his daughter research the artefact they discovered buried in Giza. The arrival of a Nazi contingent led by a Dr Wilhelm Brücke changes things dramatically as he has much more information on the device and its capabilities. He activates the gate and uses the threat of harm to Catherine to force the Professor to travel with him through the gate to act as a translator, Brucke is supremely confident in achieving his goals and is totally prepared. Upon arrival they encounter a technologically powerfully group but thanks to the Professor they being a dialogue although not before one the soldiers is killed. Catherine meanwhile escapes her captivity and seeks out her "friend" James a British officer who along with his local support (Wasif) return and repeat the gate activation sequence and follow into the unknown.

I'm going to leave the story there as that covers the basic narrative of the three episodes that were released through Stargate Command and can be viewed by anyone. The rest of the story (at this time) remains behind a paywall but hopefully at some point this will be shown on broadcast TV or released when new content arrives, yes we all still hope MGM is dedicated to the Stargate franchise going forward.

I want to thank Alan for joining me and allowing for the nostalgia of just the two of us watching and talking Stargate. I have to be honest and say the audio could have been cleaner but it's been well over a year since we last recorded and things have changed so no complaints.

Our next episode should be the Stargate SG1 "There But For The Grace Of God" and then onto "Politics" and wrapping the season finale multiparter. After that the plan is to cherry pick our guests favourite episodes from across the whole franchise, not sure what will happen if someone picks an Infinity episode! Reviews, comments and feedback always welcome and if you are on any social media then say hello :)

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Tin Man

Stargate SG1

The team gate to an unknown world and discover a huge complex which is high tech (in places) but shows sign of age and is generally run down. A globe floats above them which is mysterious and then they are struck by some sort of energy beam and collapse. They awake and well nothing seems strange apart from a being named Harlan (Jay Brazeau) who claims they are all "better" and should stay but Jack is having none of this and so they gate back to Stargate Command but during the medical Janet discovers that Jack has no heart beat and when he rips open his arm a silver liquid spills out. The General orders them to be detained but they are SG1 despite the silver blood...

The four members of SG1 feel rundown (hehehe) and return to the planet and Harlan is delighted to see them, as power floods back into their bodies they feel better and they learn that they are copies of the original SG1 intended to aid Harlan in maintaining this complex. There is certainly evidence that physically and intellectually they are indeed "better" but Teal'c goes a little bonkers and tries to kill Jack, Harlan vaporises this version of Teal'c and a little logic later they realise their original bodies were not lost and so Harlan reveals yet more secrets. Decisions have to be made as the teams talk with each other and their counterparts, Jack in particular rubs the other Jack the wrong way, it's an O'Neill thing.

Tin Man was an entertaining and well written episode, the budget seemed to have been limited as the CGI in some places was very poor and the location not overly jazzed up but Jay as Harlan was magnificent. Interesting how they handled Teal'c, kinda made sense and of course while Daniel and Sam seemed to handle their alternate selves well Jack had issues and we'll see more of that in a few seasons.

My thanks to Ian for joining me again for this episode of Stargate, it took a while for this to be released thanks to real life throwing a curveball and I simply wasn't in the mood to sit in front of the PC. The next episode may be "There But for the Grace of God" or perhaps a look at Stargate Origins: Catherine which has just been released, it depends upon scheduling.

As always if you want to leave a comment I would love to hear from you, if you want to join me on the show then again feel free and of course a review/rating on itunes/apple podcasts is always welcome.

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Stargate SG1 - Solitudes

As SG1 come under fire soon after arriving on a new world their gate travel is interrupted, Teal'c and Daniel find themselves crashing into the gate room under Cheyenne Mountain while Sam and a seriously injured Jack are in an ice cavern at an unknown location. On the upside gravity and the atmosphere seem conducive to human life but with limited supplies the two SG members may perish on this mysterious world. 

At the SGC the damage to the gate is significant, Sgt Siler and his team are busy repairing the power relays and associated kit but once restored a MALP sent back comes under fire again but there is no sign that Jack and Sam were left behind. Daniel proposes that they might have been ejected from the system at a gate along the wormholes path so Hammond sends teams out to scout the dozens of worlds, alas no sign of the missing SG members and when injuries begin to occur the General reluctantly calls off the search. Meanwhile Sam finds a DHD buried in the ice and gains access to it but limited power prevents the gate from engaging, Sam is confused when she can't even get a "lock" on the Earth address. With time running out and hope dwindling will Jack survive his injuries, will Sam find help and will Daniel ever stop nagging the General...

Solitudes is without doubt one of the better episodes of the first season of Stargate SG1 although there are issues with the plot but early on the rules for DHD and Gate mechanics were less settled and if you can overlook some issues you've got an entertaining episode. Sam and Jack of course are the focus of the episode with good chemistry between the two actors and also showing Sam's all round capabilities. There is not a lot for Teal'c to do and Daniel pretty much is Daniel (nice call back to the movie) and we get to see the hardcore military side of the General. All in all a fun watch.

Thanks to Thomas for joining me so long ago to record our discussion, hopefully he'll be back shortly perhaps when we start to cherry pick episodes from the whole franchise. There is an open invitation for anyone who would like to come on the podcast and talk about their favourite episode of the show, skype and a mic/headset is all that is required and then arrange an hour or so when we are both free to record. That aside any ratings or review, tweets, likes etc would be most welcome, while the Stargate Archives is more casual than Gatecast we would still like to get as many people listening as possible.

Next time we should be chatting about the SG1 episode Tin Man, won't that be fun :)

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Farscape

Green Eyed Monster

In honour of my recent Farscape rewatch (which I enjoyed immensely) I've dipped into the bonus show archives of the Gatecast for this look at the excellent episode "Green Eyed Monster" written by Ben Browder himself.

This episode deals very heavily with the John and Aeryn relationship and is set within the third season with the bulk of the story taking place on board Talyn with Crais as an ever present brooding element. While it can be considered a very shippy episode let's not forget that at this point John has been duplicated, there are literally two of him, one on board Talyn and the other on Moya so there's still plenty of scifi involved not least the living ships that inhabit the Farscape universe. We also get plenty of laughs (to offset the drama) thanks to Stark and Rygel on board the shuttle pod who play chicken with the huge Budong after Talyn has been swallowed and may only reappear as a waste byproduct.

Green Eyed Monster is one of my favourite episodes of Farscape, it’s pretty much a stand alone in the season arc but does become the pivotal point of the relationship between Aeryn and this John who is technically the same John as on board Moya but obviously has his own memories from the point of duplication. Having two Crichtons also means the writers were free to well kill off a major character whenever the mood struck them and as the story progresses here and on Moya that too will complicate the romance within this classic scifi series.

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Enigma

Stargate SG1

SG1 gate to a world that is being racked by huge volcanic eruptions, an earlier MALP visit did not indicate such a serious problem but as they discover bodies they themselves may be in serious danger. Further investigation reveals some of the people are still alive so they return them to Earth to provide medical care and we learn these few are the last surviving inhabitants of the world that has just been evacuated. Their leader Omoc ( Tobin Bell ) claims they were waiting for transport after making sure the gate could not be used and he believes his people would have been better off left for dead. It seems the Tolan are a very advanced human society that has a code of conduct (prime directive) when dealing with less advanced cultures. He can not and will not help Earth or even allow real interaction between his people and those the SGC offer up as potential destinations such as Tuplo from the Land of Light.

The NID then make an appearance led by Colonel Maybourne ( Tom McBeath ) and as usual they demand compliance from the SGC but Hammond dodges on a technicality. Time is running out to get these people somewhere safe even Narim ( Garwin Sanford ) who has spoken to Sam and offered her some insight into his culture is in danger of confinement despite developing a real relationship with her and the cat. Time is running out and some out of the box thinking is required to save the day.

Enigma is an episode which looks at how another race may judge the SGC and its personnel, we've had similar before with The Nox but these are humans who have advanced beyond us so there is that twist. It was a good episode for Sam who was allowed to form a bond with Narim and good for Daniel for using his intellect to ultimately aid in solving the dilemma of finding the Tolan a way home (if possible). Maybourne makes his first appearance as well and we'll get so much great stuff from his appearances on the show for years to come.

My thanks to Ian for joining me on this episode and next time we are going to be looking at Solitudes and I will be joined by Thomas so hope you stick around. I would love to hear from you and of course and ratings/reviews or social media interactions would be welcome and if you want to talk Stargate get in touch, we can arrange something.

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Stargate SG1 Cor-Ai

In the first season we got to know Teal'c reasonably well at least certain aspects of his history, in Cor-Ai we get confirmation that when under the command of the System Lord Apophis Teal'c committed what we would consider war crimes against civilians but tempered in this case with context.  On the world of Cartago (P3X-1279) the team exit the gate into a small market, there are no people in the immediate vicinity but there is evidence that there had been not long before. They venture into one of the few permanent structures which is styled along the lines of a meeting place and are confronted by low tech armed natives. SG1 and the natives of Cartago both take a step back and weapons are lowered until Hanno ( David McNally ) the young man leading the group spots Teal'c and reacts in a rather bad way, he accuses Teal'c of murdering his father and secures him for the Cor-Ai.

The Cor-Ai it seems is some sort of tribunal to determine the punishment for a crime, it is not a trial and is certainly organised in a way that is confusing to Jack especially but it is civilised and while SG1 are free to go Teal'c will stay. Of course we know Teal'c as an honourable man and when he remembers his last visit to this world and the events that unfolded Teal'c believes he has to stay and face judgement for his actions. 

Nothing seems to be going well even General Hammond has to read Jack the riot act when he refuses to offer a military response to "rescue" Teal'c pointing out that Teal'c would have done terrible things for Apophis and ultimately there are limits to what the Airforce will do for well not one of their own. As luck would have it the Jaffa of Apophis choose this time to pay a visit and Teal'c gets an opportunity to put his words aside and demonstrate his current belief but defending the local population but will that be enough to save his life?

Cor-Ai is perhaps a missed opportunity, the story telling style has been well trodden not only in the scifi genre but in many genres and while the method of solving the immediate issue varies there was never any doubt of the outcome. Maybe in a more modern production a major character could be killed off in the first season but a lot less likely in this era. A good performance by David as Hanno and you've got to admit a well presented offering from Christopher Judge who often does not get to do much.

My thanks to Brad for joining me this week to discuss this episode of Stargate SG1 and our next show should be the episode Enigma although with Stargate Origins wrapping up we may do a discussion on that instead, time will tell. Ratings and reviews or just plain feedback is always welcome and you can find us on Facebook, Google+, Tumble and Twitter so don't be shy.

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Stargate SG1 Singularity

A routine mission to the planet Hanka and an off world facility which is monitoring a singularity turns dangerous as SG1 discover dead bodies in the area surround the gate and the telescope. There are no signs of violence and concerned with the threat of biological/chemical agents they don their protection gear and continue to explore the local area and the facility. It turns out that SG-7 are also dead and Dr Fraiser puts the team through decontamination even though at this point there is no specific cause detected.

A sweep is undertaken to tag the bodies and they spy movement in the bushes, Teal'c goes to investigate and discovers a young girl, they return to the facility and she is given the all clear and along with Sam and Daniel gate back to Earth. Jack and Teal'c stay behind to maintain the operation, Jack being an amateur astronomy this is too good to pass up and also honours the dead by finishing their work. Janet confirms there is contamination in the planets water and soil but no signs of further issues but the young girl remains silent, the trauma perhaps being too much for her but Sam continues to try to bring the girl out of her shell. Eventually we learn her name is Cassandra (played by Katie Stuart) but soon after she collapses in pain and is diagnosed has having a potassium deficiency but further investigation reveals something in her chest that is not natural and is consuming hre bodies resources to grow.

Meanwhile on the planet Jack and Teal'c observe a Ha'tak through the telescope which launches gliders, the two men barely escape but Teal'c identifies the ships and knows that the Goa'uld Nirrti has in the past destroyed Stargates using individuals as weapons. Cassandra is the weapon, a trojan horse designed to tug at the heart strings of SG teams and remove the Earth as a threat but what can the SGC do now....

Singularity is an average episode which for me is entertaining but maybe not because it's a great story. The location work and sets/props are very good, the chemistry between Sam and Cassandra (plus Janet) works well but I think the plot/interaction could have been better. It was great to see Jack having fun with his telescope and a first look at a new System Lord who at this time is make not the female we came to know. Cassandra of course returns in later episodes (no spoilers at this point) and works well adding to Janet and her story.

My thanks to Brad for joining me for this show, we recorded this before christmas and my lackadaisy approach to releasing content means it's been a while sitting on the PC. Of course you can always listen to the original Gatecast recordings which were religiously released on a weekly schedule, now I have a Buffy rewatch and Star Trek Online taking up editing time so that's my excuse:)

Check is out on Facebook, Google+, Tumblr and of course Twitter and an itunes (apple podcast) review/rating would be appreciated. If you want to join us for a show then just get in touch and we'll sort out something that's work.

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Stargate SG1 Hathor

An archeological dig in Mexico unearths a sarcophagus, unexpectedly it opens revealing a woman who let's say wakes up mean. Sometime later the SGC receives the Goa'uld device and an unexpected visitor comes knocking at the door claiming to know that the Stargate is housed within the mountain. She is detained and when questioned is able to use some sort of chemical/pheromone to take control of Daniel and then one by one every male in the vicinity. Sam is confused as to why her fellow officers and friends seem to be bowing down to the woman claiming to be Hathor a goddess and enemy of Ra but it soon becomes clear.

As Hathor takes control of Stargate Command and prepares Daniel to be the father of a new strain of Goa'uld and Jack to be her first Jaffa the woman of the base (not that many of them) attempting to intervene, they are captured but escape and kick some ass! Hathor of course escapes and leaves a lot of men behind who will have to hear some embarrassing stories of their conduct for years to come....

Hathor is a mixed bag, it's quite fun but lacks that certain strength in writing and execution to make it a really good first season episode. Suanne Braun who played Hathor did an excellent job and her interactions with Daniel, Jack and Hammond were great fun. Sam and Janet led the saviours of the base and threw in a little social commentary in terms of the number of women currently in the US Airforce and assigned to the SGC and maybe Janet was getting a little to swept up with the femme fatale persona, again great fun.

My thanks to Ian for joining me this week, he'll be back shortly as we have recorded a number of episodes on the run up to the recently holidays. The next episode should be Solitudes so stay tuned and if you want to join me for a show just drop me a line and a review/rating on itunes would be appreciated.

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Stargate Archives - Travelers

As a tip of the hat to the second season of Travelers appearing globally on Netflix on the 26th of December ( a few days ago ) I decided to re-release our bonus episode from last year were I was joined by Alan and Steve for our usual commentary type show.

Travelers was created by Brad Wright and as Stargate fans we'll recognise much of the behind the scenes talent that were involved in the production of the show not to mention the excellent ensemble cast both regular and guests. The first and second season were premiered in Canada before appearing on Netflix, at this time a third season has not been ordered and as is often the case a strong showing on the streaming service could be the key to the shows future.

Travelers at heart is a time travel series centered on a group of individuals who have returned into their past to prevent a disaster that has global impact, in their time the world and the human race are dying and all their technology is focused on repairing the damage done even if it ultimately leads to their own deaths or more accurately their births. This premiere episode (also named Travelers) basically introduces us to the main team as they attempt to blend into a world that is very much unlike the one they came from and trying to make no false steps as they are forced to continue the lives of the people they replace. The variety of the group and their situations maximises the story telling options and as the series continues the show just gets better and better as more complexity is added and yes as they change the past their future changes as well. I can highly recommend Travelers to any fan of science fiction and with Eric McCormack as the lead his presence really does add a level of audience awareness a lot of shows in the genre would kill for.

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Stargate SG1 Fire And Water

Daniel is Dead.

Yes you heard me, Daniel is dead, again. Not just reported dead as in the original mission to Abydos but burnt to a crisp in front of the remaining members of SG1, or is he?

Fire And Water deals with the psychological ramifications of the loss of Daniel in what amounted to a simple unforeseen incident on an alien world. What should have been a simple mission underlined the inherent dangers in exploring the unknown and the impact it can have on teams who may not be considering the consequences in the same manner as if on active military duty in an Earth based war zone. Of course it soon becomes apparent that Sam, Jack and Teal'c are dealing with something other than survivors guilt, flashbacks and what are considered to be triggers when returning to the world is mentioned indicates there is more to the story, The clinching piece of data is the experienced timeframe, the team were missing for hours where as they thought they had been gone for far less. Hypnocise reveals some of the missing memories and SG1 return to the world in the hopes of finding Daniel.

Meanwhile Daniel.....

Fire And Water was not a bad episode although it suffers from the lack of impact once you know what is going on let alone repeated viewing removes the "what if" of losing a major character early on in a series. The prosthetics for Nem were very nice when in his world, lighting and camera worked hand in hand with makeup no doubt but not so good when in daylight. Gerard Plunkett as Nem didn't have a lot to do but did it with style and allowed Michael to "act" against him. The rest of the cast delivered solid performances and great to see Janet holding her own against the General.

My thanks to Ian for joining me this week and he'll be back when we cover Hathor, hope you'll join us for that and as always ratings, reviews and plain old comments would be most welcome. Follow us on twitter, tumblr or Google+ and join the facebook group if you wish.

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Stargate SG1 Bloodlines

Teal'c awakes from a nightmare where he saw a young boy being implanted with a symbiote, he reveals to Jack that when he informed the SGC he had no further ties to Chulak he had been less than honest. It turns out that Teal'c is married and has a son and it is the time for his boy Rya'c to undergo the Prim'ta ceremony and receive his first symbiote. Teal'c is going to prevent this at all costs and General Hammond eventually assigns SG1 to help in this endeavour.

The team disguise themselves as priests accompanied by Teal'c in his armour and eventually secure themselves on Chulak. They find the home of Teal'c burnt to the ground and on one remaining wall the symbol of a traitor (Shol'va). It's here that an older warrior makes his appearance, he embraces Teal'c and is introduced as former first prime Bra'tac. He does not seem to amused to see SG1 but confirms that Rya'c and Drey'auc are both ok but living as outcasts. The group split with Carter and Jackson going to secure the gate while Jack, Bra'tac and Teal'c head for the camp. Teal'c gets there in time to prevent the implantation but is then attacked, his wife as it turns out who screams at him that Rya'c is ill and the symbiote was the only way to save him...

Bloodlines secures its place in Stargate history by introducing us to the one and only Bra'tac wonderfully played by Tony Amendola, the character will become a staple of the show as the battle between the Goa'uld and the Tau'ri rages. It's debatable if the revelations of his family makes Teal'c a better character but it certainly does no harm to add a little more depth to the man. Of course Bra'tac steals the show and will continue to do so everytime he appears in an episode, writing and casting created a master piece in this grizzled veteran of a warrior.

My thanks to Tim for joining me on this podcast, the recording went on for quite a bit longer than expected and the resulting podcast length is a little longer as you would expect, we did ramble at times. As always love to get more people on the show so get in touch if you want to join me and an itunes review/rating would be most welcome. The next show should be Fire And Water but best laid plans and all that :)

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Stargate SG1 The Torment of Tantalus

After Daniel receives old files and transferred video footage from the early days of the Stargate program he is shocked to see that the scientists at the time were able to create a wormhole, to his horror he sees a man in a deep sea diving suit enter the gate and it then shuts down severing the connections. The man in question (Ernest Littlefield played by Paul McGillion) was the fiance of Catherine Langford who had been told he died in an accident on the base, Daniel takes it upon himself to reveal this to her and since they have the address then they go and get him. As you would expect General Hammond is not happy by this breach of security despite Catherine being high up the pecking order during her time but after blowing off some steam he gives a green light to the mission.

Upon arrival they find themselves in a sort of castle, very run down and looks abandoned until of course a very naked Ernest appears unable to believe his own eyes. It takes some time for everyone to get their bearings especially between him and Catherine, he had imagined her with him for the last 50 years, it kept him sane. The big revelation is a fully functional alien device in a room which has its walls covered in alien writings, the Asgard and Nox are there which may indicate this was some sort of meeting/conference facility. The device contains scientific data on atoms and Daniel believes it's a primer for ultimately being able to communicate but time is critical as storm season is upon them and the castle is structurally unsound. This is most evident when the DHD falls through the floor and the team have to jury-rig a solution using the copper helmet as a lighting rod and while Daniel wants to stay behind and learn all he can he eventually sees sense and he and Jack make it through the gate as the castle crumbles.

The Torment of Tantalus is one the best episodes from the first season and lays more groundwork in terms of the big picture landscape that humanity has found itself inhabiting. We also get a very funny episode, the late Keene Curtis played older Ernest to perfection and brought a level of empathy alongside the humour, not an easy thing to achieve. It was great to see Paul McGillion long before he joins Stargate for the spin off series Atlantis and with Stargate Origins on the horizon there must be elements here that will play a part.

My thanks to Brad for being up nice and early to record with me, a trooper. The next episode will probably be Bloodlines and as always if you want to join me on the show please get in touch. 

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Stargate SG1 Thor's Hammer

Daniel believes there is evidence of alien influence on humanity outside of the Goa'uld appropriation of our mythology if indeed the myths came first or the Goa'uld did. Regardless Daniel has evidence based upon Norse legends that their gods may have been more "helpful" to humanity and Teal'c chimes up that he recognises one of the symbols as a gate address which they are forbidden to access. Of course that is all Jack and the General need to green light a mission and SG1 gate to what they come to know as the planet Cimmeria only to be faced with some easily amused natives who chant "thor, thor, thor" as an Obelisk powers up and fires a beam of light at the team. It focuses on Teal'c and his symbiote and as it reaches a crescendo Jack throws himself towards Teal'c and then they both vanish. The two men later awake in a dark, dank cavern and come across a hologram of a Viking warrior who proceeds to tell them that they came to a protected planet and are in violation of a treaty, there is a way out but only if the symbiote sacrifices itself. Meanwhile Sam and Daniel meet a local leader named Gairwyn who understands who and where they come from and takes them to meet the only person who has been taken by the obelisk and returned to tell the tale.

Jack and Teal'c soon learn that they are not alone in the cavern/cave system, a very old Unas one of the first hosts of the Goa'uld symbiotes remains active and is very hungry and the two men have to fight off the James Earl Jones voiced alien while trying to reach the hammer and freedom. Sam and Daniel meet Kendra ( Galyn Görg ) who after asking for guidance from the gods agrees to take them into the mountains to find the exit of this trap.

Thor's Hammer is one of the first and most important cornerstones of the Stargate mythology, the existence of an alien race and treaty which protects some human worlds kinda derails the notion that the Goa'uld are unstoppable. We will learn far more about Thor's people as the seasons go on and while their story doesn't end that well the adventure is one of the high points of Stargates seventeen seasons. Galyn is also one of the performers who only appears once on the show but whose role and presence makes her appearance memorable.

As always my gratitude to Brad for getting up nice and early to record with me and he'll be back, put money on that. The next episode will probably be The Torment of Tantalus and of course as is the norm I'd love to get more people on the podcast so drop me a line if you are interested. You can join me in the regular rewatch or pick a favourite episode, I'm not going to be to fussy since I've covered all 17 seasons on the Gatecast.

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• The Lost World Minute Podcast

On the planet Argos the team find a small community surrounding an impressive temple like structure devoted to a "god" named Pelops. Their first interaction is with a couple ( Alekos and Thetys ) who are in the process of giving birth, Daniel turns out to have the most experience of being a midwife and soon a newborn's cry echoes throughout the temple. They are invited to what appears to be a celebration and a very attractive young woman named Kynthia ( Bobbie Phillips ) seems to take a shine to Jack and offers him so cake/pizza/foodstuff and of course he accepts and hilarity ensues. Jack is led away and then Kynthia performs a dance for him, Jack's vision seems to blur and he then finds himself some time later sharing a bed with Kynthia and devoid of everything but his dog tags. 

It turns out that these people initially age very quickly (the baby from the day before it now a well developed toddler) and the natural lifespan is just one hundred days but certainly lived to it's full extent. A further complication emerges as Jack didn't use protection when he was with Kynthia and the technology the Goa'uld controlled these people with is now infesting Jack. He begins to age and soon becomes the oldest person in the community thanks to the partial manipulation of his genetics by what turns out to be a nano type virus engineered by Pelops in the hopes of creating a perfect host. Jack orders the team to leave him behind and he tries to come to terms with his fate with Kynthia at his side but he still finds time to lead a revolt against the dictates of Pelops.

Brief Candle is a tale of two halves, the story has potential for some serious depth but a single episode doesn't really have the time to tell the tale and the budget alas worked well on the location shooting but the temple itself was pretty cheap looking. Old age makeup for Jack was pretty good and well Bobbie as the temptress Kynthia was impressive so overall an above average first season episode which never really reached it's potential.

Many thanks to Jeff for making his first appearance on the Stargate Archives after being a feature on the Gatecast over the years. If you want to join me for an hour and talk Stargate then please get in touch, currently exploiting the old contact list but would love to get some new voices on the show. As always any ratings and reviews on itunes would be most welcome and continued thanks to everyone that shares the show info on social media.

IMDB Wiki

Secretary of Defense David Swift visits Stargate Command and is impressed with the operation but raises the point that they are not bringing home the technology that will allow Earth or more importantly the US government to makes leaps and bounds in their development. It's pointed out that creating allies amongst races far more advanced (and some not) will pay off in the long run but the Secretary is not convinced. Teal'c suggests a visit to a world which has been put on a Goa'uld "blacklist" which is supposedly the home of a creature that can become invisible at will, the mission is a go.

Upon arrival they are surprised to find that the Stargate and MALP have vanished and that Apophis (Peter Williams) with an honour guard is also hunting this creature. SG1 decide to capture Apophis instead of the creature but their ambush is weak to say the least and well everyone but Teal'c is killed. Of course this is scifi so a few minutes later they are all alive once more and meet the natives of this world who seem to be very simple and spiritual folk at ease with the natural world. This is not quite correct as Jack and Apophis come to learn but each of them take something very different away from meeting members of The Nox.

The Nox is a very entertaining episode and is an excellent example of the positives when SG teams meet alien races are so far in advance of us there is little cross over to make a workable dialogue. Anteaus (Armin Shimerman) often speaks as if to SG1 being children and in this regard humanity is like kids running around the galaxy with big weapons but SG1 show potential and ultimately a secret is revealed which could in time be significant.

My thanks to Brad for joining me this week and for his continued willingness to get up very early in the morning to talk with me for an hour or so. If anyone wants to talk Stargate with me for use in the podcast I would love to hear from you, don't be shy :)

I would love to get a few more itunes ratings/reviews but I can not be anything but grateful for the support via likes/tweets and +1's on the various social media portals, links are all around. Not sure what we are covering next, it'll probably be Brief Candle if nothing else crops up that nudges it out of the queue so please stay tuned and keep enjoying Stargate.

• IMDB
• Wiki
• The Lost World Minute Podcast
• TCCA

Stargate Atlantis Midway

The IOA are flexing their bureaucratic muscles as Teyla and Ronon are forced to undergo interviews and debriefings to validate their commitment to Stargate Command despite their past endeavours. Teyla returns to Atlantis after two days in interviews and reveals to Sam and John that she may not return to field duty after the birth of her child. There are some concerns over how Ronon will react to a probing interview and Sam asks Teal'c to provide some insights into dealing with the "suits", Ronon does not appreciate his presence or input.

The two men enter the Midway system which takes them to the space station in the void between the Milky Way and Pegasus but unbeknown to them the Wraith are hacking the network and soon send an assault team to take the station. After heavy fighting Midway is now under Wraith control and they dial Earth and send a device through to the SGC which stuns the entire base allowing a squad of Wraith to storm the complex. Ronon and Teal'c follow close behind and thus a running and violent battle continues as the two men fight to save the SGC and by extension the entire population of the planet.

Midway is a fantastic episode of Stargate Atlantis both in terms of story and action but also the very welcome presence of Christopher Judge. Teal'c and Ronon were in essence the same character, an outsider learning to fit in but bringing skills and insights which the SGC can not do without out. The decision to have Ronon to view Teal'c in a very negative way was inspired, it made for a lot of humour but set up the bonding process as the two warriors did what they do best, saving lives with extreme skill and dedication. 

My thanks to Alan for joining me on the podcast and the Stargate Archives is not going to worry too much about jumping around the original broadcast schedules, if a guest wants to talk SG1, Atlantis or Universe then we can do that. Of course it makes it easier when the Gatecast went through sequentially so if anyone out there wants to join me then get in touch and we can talk Stargate.

IMDB  WIKI

Stargate SG1 Cold Lazarus

A mission off world leaves Jack alone on the planet when SG1 return to the SGC unaware the Jack that was accompanying them was an imposter. The crystals they retrieved from the planet have some unusual properties and they discover that they were struck by staff weapon fire and they crystals themselves are a manifestation of a sentient life form. Fake Jack however is out and about and armed with pictures of his dead son and family home returns and confronts his ex-wife and father in law. They are both concerned over Jack's apparent mental condition and when he convulses with energy rippling through his body he is taken to a local hospital, SG1 are now aware of the switch as the real Jack gated in and they confront the alien.

Cold Lazarus is a Jack back story I am not sure we really needed at least not for anyone familiar with the movie although we know his personal history is not common knowledge. There were some good moments as the alien in the form of Charlie was able to give some closure but that was kinda negated with the rather clumsy interaction with Sara played by Harley Jane Kozak. That said Teal'c got in some good lines and expressions in the episode and I did like the visuals of the alien world but overall an average season 1 episode.

IMDB  Wiki

Stargate Origins Discussion

We first got a hint that something was on the horizon when the Stargate Command mailing list appeared along with confirmation of a Stargate panel at the 2017 SDCC. Obviously a new series was the favoured and most hoped for announcement and while that's not quite what we got the decision to produce a web based 10 episode series was perhaps more than we could have hoped for not that long ago. The choice to look back at events as they surround Catherine Langford is interesting, there are certainly time periods where she was aware of the artifact and of some of it's properties which were never covered in any of the series. A prequel show/mini-series can be tricky when you have pussyfoot around continuity but I think they have the breathing room to do just that, no doubt we will find out soon.

My thanks to Alan and Stephen for a last minute podcast recording session in which we have a casual chat about the potential of Origins and what we may end up with and the decision for it to be a feature of a MGM subscription based digital portal for the franchise. Fingers crossed that in years to come we can look back at say this is where the rebirth of Stargate began.

Stargate Command  IMDB

Stargate SG1 The First Commandment

Two men dressed in Stargate Command uniforms flee through the forest pursued by natives armed with blow darts, one man is wounded and falls yet urges the other on to the Stargate. The wounded man is surrounded by natives and others seemingly dressed in SGC kit while in the distance the gate activates, at least one man has escaped. The wounded man is then executed and his body burnt.

SG1 gate to the planet to investigate SG9 who have been on the world for some time, they come across the man (Lt. Connor) who activated the gate and he reveals that his SG team leader Captain Jonas Hanson has gone rogue and is playing God with the native population. Jack attempts to order both Connor and Carter (former fiance of Hanson) to return to Earth but both refuse and later that night their camp is attacked and Connor taken. The team infiltrate the local settlement and see hundreds of people mining the local rocks under armed oversight, we learn that Jonas wants them to build a temple and he is willing to let them work under the lethal daylight to achieve his desires. Naturally SG1 are opposed to this and find support amongst the locals first through a young man named Jamala who reveals that their "god" has promised to protect them from the sun with a golden shield, it sounds familiar to Teal'c. Sam meanwhile has attempted to directly contact Jonas but has only got herself captured and when Jack is taken and used as leverage to get Sam to fix the shield device things start to come together and offer a chance for rebellion.

The FIrst Commandment is a solid first season episode, not sure Sam's backstory with Hanson really worked well but we see how all of the SG1 are unwilling to turn their back on each other and others that require help. We will see similar plot points in many future episodes most of them written better but again first season and everyone is still finding their footing. Also worth noting this is an early appearance by Roger Cross who appears later in the show as the same character and is a very in demand actor in television.

Thanks to Jeff for joining me for this episode of the archives, he will return to make up for his too few appearances in last year or so of Gatecast. Thoughts and comments are most welcome and itunes reviews/ratings would be appreciated, so until next time which should be a look at Cold Lazarus take care and keep watching Stargate.

IMDB  Wiki

Stargate SG1 The Broca Divide

Analysis of the the partial gate address used by Apophis has presented a new world for the SGC to investigate, the MALP however reports a world devoid of light. SG1 and SG3 (Marine Unit) gate to the planet and come under attack from some natives, weapons fire drives them away and SG1 discover a small camp which is then subsequently "attacked" by a group of white robed figures. We learn that on this world modelled on the Minoan culture there are the "touched" and "untouched" the former have been infected by a medical condition which the locals consider to be the work of an evil god.

The SG teams return to Earth but one by one the team members display aggression and attitudes counter to their normal state, Dr Frasier begins quarantine procedures and when Daniel and Teal'c show no symptoms they are sent back to secure a blood sample. Daniel gets himself captured but Teal'c returns with the blood and Janet creates a cure and tests in on Jack. SG teams armed with tranquilizers secure the immediate area of the gate and rescue a "touched" Daniel and prove to the leaders of the city that there is a cure, families are reunited and bells are rung.

The Broca Divide has an interesting concept that due to budget doesn't really reach its potential but there are still many entertaining scenes as well as the introduction of Janet played by Teryl Rothery. My thanks to Brad for talking Stargate once again and to Mack for the 5 star UK itunes review, we'd love to get a few more. 

• IMDB
• Wiki
• The Lost World Minute Podcast

Voyager

Message In A Bottle

Welcome to another show drawn from the archives (Dec 2014) of the Gatecast podcast, this was a bonus episode which celebrated the work of Robert Picardo as the Doctor on Voyager.

On this episode we are joined by Michael his first time on the show and we will be discussing the Star Trek Voyager episode Message In A Bottle in which Robert plays the holographic Doctor as usual and it's one of the many Voyager stories which his character takes center stage and makes the most of his talents which as Stargate fans we are familiar with when he played Richard Woolsey on both SG1 and Atlantis.

In Message In A Bottle Seven of Nine discovers a quadrant spanning communications network which seems to be abandoned and then detects at extreme range a Starfleet vessel, they attempt to communicate but the signal is corrupted and Janeway decides to send a holographic encoded signal which will retain it's integrity for longer and of course they volunteer the Doctor. He appears on board the USS Prometheus a prototype long range tactical vessel, the human crew are all dead and the ship is controlled by Romulans. The Doctor encourages the ships EMH (a more advanced model) to help recapture the ship and the two of them raise to the challenge with much danger and hilarity. Andy Dick guest stars as the EMH mark 2 and in his way this holographic being is as flawed as the original model but in the short space of time interacting with our Doctor he grows and begins to see himself as a being in how own right not just part of the technology of the ship.

We were fortunate on this show to be joined by Michael Clark who is making his first appearance on Gatecast, Michael has hosted and appeared on way too many podcasts to mention and was jointly responsible for creating The Visionary Trek network which currently has three podcasts which deal with all aspects of Star Trek and who excel in interviews, news and features. 

• Message In A Bottle IMDB
• Message In A Bottle Memory Alpha
• Robert Picardo
• Andy Dick
• Judson Scott
• Valerie Wildman
• Jeri Ryan
• Kate Mulgrew
• Robert Beltran
• Roxann Dawson
• Robert Duncan McNeill
• Ethan Phillips
• Tim Russ
• Garrett Wang
• Nancy Malone

 

• Visionary Trek
• Michael Clark

Stargate Archives

Stargate SG1 Emancipation

The team gate to a new world where the rescue a young man who is being perused by dogs, turns out they were hunting dogs which are driven off by gunfire. The young man (Abu) thanks Jack and is amazed that one of his rescuers is a female, soon they are joined by his father whose first act is to order the execution of Carter for being a woman. He relents when it is explained they are not from around here and are unaware of cultural norms and of course they just saved the leader's son. Daniel pushes to spend some time in the nearby camp despite the obvious issues that will directly effect Carter rather than the male members of the team so when they go to party she has to stay hidden away from eyes of the menfolk in a tent. Of course she then gets kidnapped by Abu who intends to trade her for the daughter of a rival clan, this too does not go well and it looks like Carter is in heap of trouble no fault of her own.

Emancipation is an early episode of the show that gets some stick for its portrayal of women both in the native culture of this planet and how Carter herself is treated by them and her own team. There is also some issues with the casting although it has to be said the production made a good effort and getting non-caucasian actors to play the majority of parts but let themselves down by casting Nya with a white actress. Crystal Lowe who played Nya did a fine job but her colouring looks totally out of place in this community.

Overall not as bad an episode as it's rated across the fandom but it's certainly not the highlight of the first season. My thanks once again to Brad for joining me on the podcast and he'll return for the next episode (Broca Divide) and Jeff should be with me for "The First Commandment". Feedback is more than welcome as are ratings and reviews over on itunes.

• Emancipation IMDB
• Emancipation Wiki
• The Lost World Minute Podcast

The Simpsons

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore

Richard Dean Anderson guest stars in Kiss Kiss Bang Bangalore a season seventeen episode of the animated comedy The Simpsons. He plays himself in a story which involves a Stargate SG1 convention in Springfield and the over enthusiastic attentions of two devoted MacGyver fans with the aid of some rope and a hammer. During the fun and games Mr Burns has outsources the nuclear power plant to India and Homer as the sole union member who retains his job is sent overseas to run the facility with some unexpected consequences.
The Simpsons is well known for making full use of it’s famous guest stars playing themselves and in this case spinning a Stargate and MacGyver tale around Richard Dean Anderson is inspired as it also pokes fun at the culture of fandom a few years before it really became well I guess mainstream and accepted in mass media. RDA has serious fun sending up his MacGyver persona the role which made him a global celebrity in the hit series. The second story in the episode follows Homer as he moves to India to run the outsourced nuclear power plant, a healthy dose of satire aimed squarely at the US and a few other societies that are pricing themselves out of manufacturing and maybe even seeing it as beneath them.

How can you go wrong with Richard Dean Anderson and The Simpsons, well this proved you couldn't and we hope you enjoyed this look back into the archives of the Gatecast podcast. Hopefully more new content will be arriving soon and we'll continue to cherry pick some of shows from the original run of Gatecast.

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore IMDB

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore  Wiki

General Hammond has assigned missions to SG1 and SG2 but they are unable to use the gate due to sustained incoming wormholes. The belief is that Apophis is continually dialng Earth and sending troops through maybe unaware of the Iris being used to prevent rematerialisation. Major Kawalsky visits the infirmary as he is suffering from an intense headache, the doctor notices movement on his back and neck and Kawalsky's eyes flash and the SGC has been breached.

Colonel Kennedy is conducting an informal debrief of Teal'c who is unable to offer any insights into Goa'uld technology. Meanwhile Kawalsky has an MRI and the symbiote is detected, he reacts violently and Captain Carter is injured in his escape attempt but when trapped the symbiote releases control of the host but the secret is out.

Colonel Kennedy is delighted and argues that the sacrifice of one man is worth the intelligence offered thanks to the genetic memory of all Goa'uld but the operation to remove the symbiote is successful or is it....

The Enemy Within is a good episode to follow on from the excellent Children of the Gods although it was disappointing that Kawalsky the character which bridged over from the movie wasn't allowed to develop more but hey never dead in scifi. There were also some good moments between the main cast indicating some wise and may inspired choices in the casting process as well writing to make the social dynamic seamless.

My thanks to Brad for joining me again this week and to Ian for our first itunes review. Next week we should be covering Emancipation which generates "opinions" amongst fans, join us for that and please let us know what you think of the show and the cast.

• The Enemy Within Wiki
• The Enemy Within IMDB
• The Lost World Minute Podcast

Children Of The Gods

Final Cut Discussion

I am joined by Brad this week for a discussion on the Stargate SG1 pilot Children of the Gods or more accurately the Final Cut DVD release which was a pet project of Brad Wright and MGM who were looking for a low investment item to bring to market. There was a minor hiccup in our discussion as Brad watched the original version but it did give some more opportunities to highlight the changes between the two releases.

Children of the Gods at least the Showtime and original DVD release is a strange beast, the graphic content (nudity) was perhaps not unexpected given that Showtime were the primary broadcaster and they like all premium cable had to offer something networks didn't. Of course as we know Stargate quickly shifted towards a more family friendly approach and the beautiful Sha're (Vaitiare Hirshon) not withstanding it was a wise decision. The chemistry between the cast was evident straight away especially after a certain cringe worthy line is removed the script something Brad always wanted to do. We also get to see far more of Teal'c making it more evident how strong he felt about the duties his "god" expected him to carry on. That made his choice to help Jack far more believable.

Overall the Final Cut is a very rewarding viewing experience and there is also a very entertaining commentary from Brad Wright and RDA so if for nothing else...

My thanks to Brad for joining me on the podcast and if you are of a mind you can pay his latest project a visit, he now hosts The Lost World Minute Podcast and I'm sure he would like your support. Personally I enjoy listening to the Minute by Minute podcasts, currently listening to two of them.

Next week or the next release should be The Enemy Within, no schedule release date as of yet but it will arrive sooner or later. We'd love to hear what you think of the new format compared to what we were doing on the Gatecast, opinions most welcome.

• Children of the Gods Final Cut IMDB
• Children of the Gods Final Cut Wiki

Well here we are again, the first piece of new content for the archive site and it's going to be a look at Once Upon A Time and more specifically a Robert Carlyle episode from the first season entitled "Skin Deep". In this episode Rumplestiltskin meets Belle for the first time after agreeing to end her fathers war with the trolls. Meanwhile in Storybrooke Mr Gold is imposing his own business ethics on Moe (Belle's father) after he failed to repay a loan. David and Mary Margaret continue to their dance unaware of who they once were and Emma now the sheriff investigates a robbery of Gold's home, a very important item has been stolen.

Skin Deep is a very rewarding look into this show's version of Beauty and the Beast, there are some wonderful moments between Rumplestiltskin and Belle never more so after the Queen's interference which leads to some home truths being dished out to the dark one.

Our thanks to No Spoilers Dearie on twitter who helped us to decide what we were going to do for a first piece of new content for this site and while it's not a full Once Upon A Time podcast we hope this is acceptable.

Our next episode will probably be taking a look at Children Of The Gods (Final Cut), no schedule for release but it has been recorded so while we won't be sticking to a weekly release we hope at least to maintain regular new content for the immediate future.

We'd love to hear what you think about the new site and of course this show is on the new itunes feed so we are in need of some ratings/reviews :)

• IMDB
• Robert Carlyle
• Emilie de Ravin

 

GWC / Gatecast

This was a very special bonus episode of The Gatecast (first released July 2010) as our friends over on the Galactic Watercooler Podcast recorded a show for us about their interest and passion in all things Stargate. GWC was mainly focused on Battlestar Galactica but over the years became far more than just a podcast talking BSG, content spread throughout the genres and a full blown international community grew. Alan a founder of The Gatecast attended one of the annual meetups and there was of course a podcast released to commemorate the get together.

Sit back and listen to Chuck, Audra and Juan.

• Galactic Watercooler Website

• Sci-Fi Boneyard Podcast

Well here we are with something a little different for us, an interview with the respected author Keith R. A. DeCandido.

Keith is a New Yorker born and bred who took to literature at a very early age encouraged by his parents with an interesting choice of authors. You may want to think back to what you were reading as a youngster then compare it to Keith’s reading list, for me a world of difference:) Keith is also a professional editor and has written his own original novels as well as making full use of  licensed content and novelisations. His media and online endeavours populate an extensive list of accomplishments, check the links you will be amazed. Join Alan and Mike on this podcast as we chat with Keith about his work in the media and more specifically the appeal of Stargate and the result of said interest with his new novel “Kali’s Wrath” which was released on May 19th as an ebook and the paperback is out soon.

We want to thank Keith for giving us his time and since the interview was recorded a few days before the book was released and this podcast is being released a few days after I have tagged on a small review of the novel at the end of the interview, spoiler free.

Links...

• Twitter
• Kradical
• DeCandidio Net
• Wiki
• Facebook
• Tor

Kali's Wrath

• Amazon UK
• Amazon US
• Crossroad Press
• Smashwords

Mike, Brad and Andrew take a look at the 1994 Stargate theatrical feature film. This episode is not a commentary but a general discussion talking through the plot of the movie highlighting the good and bad bits with maybe a little nit-picking along the way.

I don’t think a synopsis of the movie is required but what the hell, mysterious artifact found in Egypt, taking to the states and under the control of the Air Force. Doctor Daniel Jackson is brought it as perhaps a last ditch effort to decode the hieroglyphs and he discovers the link to star constellations and formulates the devices use as a travel device on a galactic scale. Colonel O’Neill leads a team through the gate where they find a primitive human culture enslaved by Ra the Sun god who is actually an alien who stole humans to work for him and worship him. Fights break out, the military dudes engineer regime change, the people are free, Daniel gets married and stays with the inlaws.

Our thanks to Brad and Andrew for joining us for this show, a little different but we think it came out ok.