Nerd heaven

Today I'm reviewing Lost Bits, a science fiction novel by Kerry Nietz. This book follows K404 a robot who wakes up in the middle of a junkyard with no memory of how he got there. As he explores his world, he collects a tribe of other robots. Two things really drove me through this book - the fantastic interplay between the characters and the mystery of what has happened to the world. Highly recommended for fans of robot fiction and buddy drama.

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Get a free sci-fi book at http://adamdavidcollings.com/free

In a slightly more standalone episode of Stargate Universe, we go hunting for an alien creature that has taken two Destiny crewmembers. Varro and his Lucian Alliance people want to join, as they have much more experience with this, but can they be trusted? And what's going on with Greer?

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Welcome to Nerd Heaven

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a Nerd.

This is episode 87 of the podcast

Today, we’re talking about  the Stargate Universe episode “The Hunt”

And if you’d like to check out my original science fiction books, head on over to AdamDavidCollings.com/books

The description on Gateworld reads

“The crew organise a desperate rescue mission after a predatory creature attacks an offworld team and takes two people captive.”

This episode was written by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie

It was directed by Andy Mikita

And it first aired on the 3rd of May 2012.

We’re on an alien planet. One of those nicely forested Canada planets we visited so often in SG-1.

They spot animals that they refer to as space deer.

Greer points out they’ll look ever better roasting on a spit.

Park is shocked. “You’re kidding, right?” she says with a look of amazement on her face.

Greer gives an amusing response. “Well, how would you cook them?”

Turns out Park is a vegetarian.

Nothing wrong with that, at all. But I’m a little surprised at her shock.

They’re on a spaceship, stranded far from Earth. No way to get supplies.

They’ve been scrounging for anything they can find to eat on planets they visit, that might have nutritional value to keep them alive.

And Park is shocked that a non vegetarian would consider eating these animals?

Her surprise shocks me.

Most of what they’ve eaten in the last two seasons has been extremely unpalatable vegetables. They probably haven’t had access to much protein.

It makes sense.

Park does raise a legitimate point. What if these creatures are intelligent?

I was actually thinking about that myself before she said it. You better make sure they’re not sapient beings. Exactly how you do that is up for discussion. But you can get a pretty decent level of accuracy just by observing their behaviour.

As Scott says, he saw one of them eat their own vomit. Not proof, by any means, but certainly one piece of evidence.

They look pretty cool up close. The CGI is a little dated by today’s standards, but still very artistic, and certainly a lot more than they could have done in the early days of SG-1.

But before Greer can make the shot, the animals run away, spooked by something.

That’s when they hear the roar.

They’re not on another T-Rex planet, are they?

Something jumps out and attacks them. We see the encounter from the point of view of the creature. Then we cut to credits. When we come back out, we’re looking at Kino footage, which still seems to be shot from the creature’s point of view, which is really weird and hard to explain.

There’s a trope often used in horror or sci-fi and fantasy. It’s the idea of ‘hide the monster’.

And it can work sometimes.

But I think I’ve said before, that this annoys and frustrates me in situations where the characters can see the creature, but it’s artificially hidden from us, the audience.

That REALLY bugs me.

Plenty of the away team have been injured from the attack, and two are missing =- TJ and Reynolds.

Scott wants to go down and find them, but Young is going himself, and leaving Scott in charge on Destiny.,

Young is a little concerned that Greer hesitated when he had the animal in his sights. He didn’t take the shot. If it’s just a moment of indecision, then that happens. It’s cool.

But if there is a bigger problem, Greer needs to figure out what it is and fix it.

Greer gives a very compliant “Yes, sir.”

Eli and Brody are exploring new parts of the ship. Rush wants them to take a cautious approach. Not looking inside boxes. Fair enough, I guess. But at some point, somebody needs to look in the box or you’ll never know what’s inside.

Brody thinks that Eli is afraid of Rush. Eli denies it, but when they reach Rush, he goes all quiet and awkward.

And after last week’s episode, this feels wrong.

Eli is really upset with Rush right now. When we last saw him, he’d just sacrifice Ginn to save Rush’s life. Eli stood up to Rush and spoke in a very affirmative and almost aggressive way.

At this point, I think Eli is done being intimidated by Rush, and has had enough of his crap.

Anyway, they find a room filled with slots in the wall. They look kind of like Borg regeneration alcoves.

Eli calls them stasis pods. It makes sense that a long-range ship like Destiny would have them, but they’re empty. And there’s a lot of them.

Rush wants to check the computers for information before spending any time studying these pods. He wants to move on, to Eli’s dismay.

Rush is basically cataloguing. Exploring the ship, see what you find, note it, and move on. Come back later to do detailed examinations of the things you noted.

And that’s a valid way to explore. Possibly even a wise way. It keeps you on task, without getting distracted by each new shiny thing.

But when you find something significant like this, it’s hard to just walk away.

And it seems that Rush’s approach and attitude is being significantly influenced by the recent tragedy. He jumped in head first because he wanted to be with Perry, and got trapped in the computer.

Greer is letting his guilt over not firing cause him to make poor and rash decisions. Yes, they need to hurry, but as Young points out, they need to hurry in the right direction. There’s no point running ahead if you’re going the wrong way.

Young is concerned that Greer hasn’t had enough time to recuperate after his surgery.

It seems in the last few episodes, we’ve really been delving into Greer’s flaws.

Varro wants to volunteer to help with the rescue.

The Lucian Alliance people have been hunting most of their lives. They could do this more efficiently and effectively than Young and his team. Scott agrees and sends them down.

Volker goes to the sick bay to see how Park is doing. The other patient, a loud-mouthed guy, is being really self-absorbed. Volker admits that he’s here to express concern for both of them, but Park clearly has more of his attention right now. And loud-mouth doesn’t help matters with his attitude.

I wonder, does Volker have some feelings for Park? It’s entirely possible that this is just concern driven by friendship and working closely together, of course. That’s completely normal and appropriate.

But stories have a tendency to focus more on romantic feelings, so I’m just wondering. We’ve seen Park and Greer have a physical relationship in the past. Is it still going on? I’m not sure.

TJ and Reynolds are still alive. They’re in a cave.

The fact that they’re still alive is a good sign, but not as good as Reynolds is hoping.

The creature is saving them for later. To eat.

But that, at least, buys them time to be rescued.

Once Rush is out of the way, Eli decides to hell with what Rush thinks. He’s gonna go look at the stasis pods. Brody decides to go with him.

When TJ looks out of the cave mouth to see where they are, we get our first real glimpse of the monster. We don’t see it fully, just a quick shot. We see a tail and the back end of  a large muscled body.

And that’s fine. I’m cool with that. That’s enough. Just show us little half glimpses at the start and fully reveal the monster at the end. I’m fine with that. But we should have seen this glimpse, at least, at the beginning.

So Chloe comes to see how Volker is doing. She tries, subtly at first, to suggest maybe he should tell Park how he feels about her. When that doesn’t work, because subtly rarely works on us blokes, she asks outright. “Does she know how you feel?”

Volker denies anything beyond friendship between them, but his awkwardness pretty much confirms that feeling that he does have. And has no idea what to do with it.

He’s a nerd like me. I totally get it.

Eli is really starting to vent about his issues with Rush now. This is what I was talking about at the beginning of the episode. These are the feelings I’m expecting him to have.

He’s tired of Rush taking charge of everything and cutting the others out of decisions and even knowledge.

Rush WAS lead scientist on Icarus, but this is personal. This is about what Eli had to do to save Rush. This is about Rush keeping the bridge secret for so long.

He confirms that he doesn’t want to be head scientist, but he does want more of a say.

And that’s when Brody accidentally gets locked into one of the stasis pods.

As Eli tries to free him, he activates the pod, putting Body into cryogenic suspension.

That’s not good.

But Eli doesn’t know is that Rush already knows they’re there. He was watching. And he’s the one who activated the pod. He’s screwing with them.

Varro learned to hunt as a child. But he also learned to respect nature. Those two things seem to go together.

But Greer sees nothing to respect in this creature. He calls it a monster.

Varro points out that animals don’t know hate, only fear and hunger. Which is true.

So what exactly is a monster? Really, that’s just a word we use to demonise a creature. And I can totally understand doing that. If an animal killed someone I love, I’d totally demonise it. I’d be filled with hate for this creature, which had acted out of fear and hunger.

Anyway, the creature ambushes them. It’s a pretty frantic scene. Several of them were badly injured. Varro has determined this creature is very intelligent. It’s been hunting them while they’ve been hunting it.

And Greer is still acting rashly. He is really not himself.

James has noticed that Greer is freezing under pressure. It happens to people, but not to Greer.

He shares that he thinks he died. He woke up after the surgery and there was nothing. Couldn’t see, couldn’t hear.

For the first time, he’s experiencing fear.

James thinks it was just Greer’s brain waking from the heavy sedation a little ahead of his body.

Greer thinks it was something darker.

Death. Maybe hell.

Young can’t go on, because of his injuries. He’ll only slow them down. He knows this. Varro knows he knows this. He doesn’t want to give up on his people, but he’s a CO. He knows the right call here. So he chooses to trust Varro.

Interesting that young doesn’t say “Bring them back.” He says “bring her back.”

Despite everything, Young still has very close personal feelings for TJ. He had pushed those feelings aside, refusing to acknowledge them, out of respect for his wife (although that doesn’t make up for his past unfaithfulness), but she still obviously means a great deal to him. More than just one of his crew.

I do wonder, if now that his wife has asked him for a divorce, whether he is reconsidering the possibility of something happening with TJ. But she seemed to be tired of being toyed with, and with all she’s gone through this season, it’s hardly the time to try to start something.

Volker comes in to see PArk again. She asks him if he was watching her sleep. His response is so awkward that I think his feelings are probably pretty obvious to Park now.

Rush has some work for Park. She's going crazy just laying there.

Rush has noticed Volker’s interest in Park. But he believes nothing could ever happen with them. Not because she’s so attractive, and he’s not, but because Volker isn’t the romantic type. He’s the good friend type. And that’s just life. We all have our pre-destined roles (which does not actually sound like Rush at all). Volker is destined to live the single life and pursue science. I think he might be using a little reverse psychology here. See, Rush does sometimes like to help others, but he does it in a very Rush way.

Varro has set a trap for the creature, which they know is stalking them as much as they’re stalking it.

This is when Greer decides to speak up with what’s on his mind.

Greer has never liked any of the Lucian Alliance. Varro has been one of the good ones for quite a while, but not good enough for Greer. He doesn’t trust Varro, and he’s concerned about what may be starting to happen between him and TJ.

Varro doesn’t deny it, he simply says “why don’t we let her decide that.”

When the creature attacks, Greer is still not thinking well. He yells out “I’m right here.” He’s being driven by all sorts of emotion.

They blow up the creature. They can now hike to the lair without further threat.

And that’s when two of the hunters get taken by creatures. There are more of them.

The way this is done is pretty good. You see them just kind of disappear into the brushes, really quickly, like they’ve been snatched by something.

Why didn’t they use that effect at the start of the episode, instead of the monster-POV allowing the characters to get a good look at the monster, while hiding it from us. The effect used here would have been much better. It’s creepy. It’s very effective. IT evokes fear, not only of the power of this creature, but of its unknown nature.

Reynolds is pretty scared. The creature is too strong to kill. And he can’t stand the thought of being eaten alive. When the time comes, if he doesn’t have the guts to do it himself, he asks TJ to kill him.

TJ has some harsh words for him, which he seems to take onboard.

She managed to make radio contact with Varro and Greer.

That could greatly improve their odds of rescuing them.

With nobody else to turn to, Eli asks Chloe to help with Brody.

He can’t tell Rush. He wants to solve this without Rush.

Chloe may still have some residual alien knowledge. That might be helpful.

They’ve found the lair, but Varro is hesitant to go with Greer. He doesn’t think Greer is up for it. He’s no coward, but he’s second-guessing himself, and they don’t have time for him to work through whatever issues he’s working through.

Varro has a point.

But Greer will never accept that because he doesn’t trust Varro.

So Varro has little choice but to go along with Greer’s plan.

We get a really good look at the creature when it enters the lair. I think this is one of the babies. Anyway, it looks good. I like it.

When Greer arrives, TJ tells him not to shoot. She thinks the creature is recognising intelligence in TJ for using the fire.

Greer has the shot. He second-guessed himself last time, and now he’s being told not to shoot. This is not going to be helpful with the things he’s trying to work through.

TJ and Reynoldfsd leave the lair. The creature allows them.

Greer bets that the creature is smart enough to know he can kill it, but is choosing not to.

It’s a bet he’s making with his life.

The bet pays off. All three of them are able to leave unharmed, without harming the creature.

I have to wonder, just how intelligent is this thing? Is it a sapient being like us? There is no sign of civilisation. It lives like an animal. Hunting prey. It doesn’t build anything. No evidence that it has tried to develop technology.

But then, it doesn’t have the tools in its body like we do.

It’s a good reminder that intelligent alien life won’t necessarily look like us.

Which is actually the caution that Park raised at the start of the episode.

So Rush finally lets Brodgy out of the stasis pod.

Seems this was more than just him playing a joke on Eli and Brody. He was testing the pod to see how it worked, and has evidently decided they shouldn’t use them.

So…he’s conducted human experimentation without the consent of knowledge of his test subject.

That’s a new low for Rush, I think.

And nobody will ever know because it’ll all be blamed on a mistake by Eli.

But in the end, Rush has achieved what he wanted with those two. They are now much more cautious, which is what he wanted them to be.

Greer has put in a good word for Varro, who is now a free man, allowed to roam the ship again.

That’s the thing about Greer, he’s not one to trust, but if you prove yourself to him, he’ll back you up.

A romantic moment was about to happen between Varro and TJ, and it was very much mutual. But they’re interrupted by somebody at the door.

It’s Young, inviting Varro to lend his expertise to tonight’s dinner.

After Young leaves, TJ looks really troubled, emotionally. I’m not quite sure what’s going through her head.

Is she torn between Varro and Young? Or is it just about Varro, wondering if she should pursue him or not. I’m really not sure.

So Volker has finally worked up the courage to tell Park how he feels. He walks into the sick bay, flower in hand, and he sees Greer there with her, practically lying on top of her.

It seems there is still very much something going on between those two.

He walks sadly away. He can’t compete with a strong, brave tough guy like Greer.

I really feel for Volker.

I know how he’s feeling in that moment. I’ve been there.

It’s the feeling of ‘how could anyone possibly love me? I’m just a nerd. I’m nothing. No one could ever want me.’

I remember feeling those things deeply.

And yet, by some miracle, it worked out for me. I’m married to a wonderful woman and we love each other deeply.

There is always hope.

Of course, the odds are much harder for someone like Volker, on a spaceship with a very small sample of human beings.

The episode ends with the crew enjoying some tasty alien venison at Becker’s Barbecue.  Airman Becker, being the ship’s official chef.

I really enjoyed this episode. It’s mostly a standalone, after a whole lot of episodes that have followed directly one from another, but it still has a lot of connective tissue.

But the standalone elements were very entertaining.

Next time, we’ll look at the first of two episodes that delve into what happened when the alternate timeline crew went through that wormhole in Twin Destinies.

I’ll see you then for Common Descent.

Only 4 more episodes left of Stargate Universe.

We better enjoy every minute of it, because it’ll be over before we know it.

Have a great two weeks

Live long and prosper

Make it so

Who doesn't love a good crossover? In this episode, we get to see not one, but two beloved characters from Stargate Atlantis (both of whom got their start on Stargate SG-1). Richard Woolsey and Dr. Rodney Mackay assist the crew of Destiny in their attempt to convince the Langaran government to let them dial Destiny from their planet. The only thing missing is Jonas Quinn. But are they putting the people of Langara at risk?

While all that's going on, we also get more insight into what life is like for Perry and Ginn as disembodied data structures. Rush goes on a journey that ends in heartbreak.

I have a lot to say about both plots in the episode, so let's dig in.

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Welcome to Nerd Heaven

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a Nerd.

This is episode 86 of the podcast

Today, we’re talking about the Stargate Universe episode “Seizure”

And if you’d like to check out my original science fiction books, head on over to AdamDavidCollings.com/books

The description on GateWorld reads

Homeworld Command tries to convince an ally occupying a naquadria-rich planet to let them try to dial Destiny, but suspects that they have already been infiltrated by the Lucian Alliance.

This episode was WRITTEN BY: Rémi Aubuchon

It was DIRECTED BY: Helen Shaver

And it first aired on 27th February 2012

The episode opens with a very familiar face. Richard Woolsey, played by Robert Picardo. No longer in his Atlantis uniform, he’s back in suit and tie. He’s negotiating with an ambassador from the planet Langara. That’s Jonas Quin’s world. The place where Naquadria was first discovered. This planet has a naquadria core. The perfect place for dialling Destiny.

It’s a bit of a shame that Jonas doesn’t appear in this episode. It would have been cool to bring back Corin Nemmick, but then, there’s already so much in this episode that I don’t think they would have done him justice. It would probably have been little more than a cameo.

It seems word got through from Senator Michaels. Chloe convinced her that they should go ahead with trying to dial Destiny so as to provide supplies and personnel.

But this is a big risk. The last two planets they dialled destiny from were destroyed. Langara is a populated world with millions of humans. If this goes badly, the loss of life will be catastrophic.

Telford argues there were mitigating circumstances in both of those cases. Personally, I’m not so sure. I wouldn’t be inclined to try doing this from a populated world.

But Woolsey assures the ambassador - Ovirda, that they have a new solution for dialling the gate. And with that, the door is opened, and in walks Doctor Rodney Mackay.

Okay. We need to pause for a minute so we can scream with nerdy glee. Two popular characters from Stargate Atlantis are appearing in this episode. And both of those characters got their start on SG-1. So this is a huge crossover event. I’m fanboying all over the place.

Before Mackay can say more than a few words he’s interrupted by Ovirda. He isn’t a scientist. He’s not interested in hearing Mackay’s speech. He’ll let his own science people decide. If they think it’s safe, then he’ll consider allowing Earth to use his planet to dial Destiny. He’s not going to risk his world on the hearsay of people from Earth with their own agendas.

And quite frankly, I don’t blame him. If I was in his position I’d be saying the exact same thing.

But there’s a catch. The Lucian Alliance still want Destiny. That’s speculation, but well-educated speculation. They know there are few worlds where the dialling can be done. They’ll be coming for Langara, and they won’t care if they destroy the planet or not.

Ovirda says it sounds like Earth’s protection is becoming conditional. And Woolsey doesn’t exactly deny it.

Mackay is very sure of his science. But then that’s always been his problem. He’s overconfident in his own abilities and superiority. Remember that time Mackay accidentally destroyed a solar system?

Telford thinks the Lucian Alliance have already gotten to Ovirda’s people. I find that an extraordinary statement. I mean, it’s probably true, knowing how story-telling works, but as I’ve said, I feel that Ovirda is acting just the way you’d expect somebody in his situation to act.

But Telford has further evidence the others don’t know about. Something about satellites. Honestly, what he says is a bit vague and the episode rushes through it very quickly.

The point is, it’s looking like Langara has sided with the Lucian Alliance in this war, undeclared though it may be.

That means the Alliance can launch an assault on Destiny at any time. Without Mackay’s solution.

But my question is how. Are we to believe they’ve come up with their own solution?

How have the alliance convinced Ovirda’s people that they can safely dial without destroying their world? This seems quite unbelievable to me.

Young, who is visiting Earth with the stones, says they’re launching a fact-finding mission to Langara. Call it a proof of concept. Mackay is delighted when Young wants him to go through his presentation. But before he can start, Young says, not here.

Now, there’s a big elephant in the room of this episode. We don’t know what happened to Atlantis. Is it still on Earth? Or did they take it back to Pegasus? What are Woolsey, Mackay, Shepherd and the rest doing when they’re not helping with this project? We don’t get any answers to these questions, and maybe we never will.

Back on Destiny, Rush is playing chess with Perry. Of course, he has to move the pieces for her, since she has no physical substance. And we learn that Perry may have been the only person who Rush could never beat at chess.

Things are actually looking really good for these two. Perry is no longer trapped in a broken body, and Rush gets to have the woman he loves around all the time. Previously, he only got to see her occasionally when she visited the ship using the stones.

It turns out, in her new non-corporeal form, in the ship’s computer, Perry can concentrate on multiple things at once. She is also studying the ancient pattern and reviewing the ship’s sensor readings. Rush argues she is more now than she was. She is better than a human.

I think Rush may actually be jealous.

But Perry dreams of having a flesh and blood body. And he dreams of that two. Because then, well, they could be closer physically, in a number of different ways.

Perry surprises us all by saying “there is a way.”

So Mackay arrives on Destiny. He’s in Brody’s body, but he was expecting Rush. The plan was that Rush would go to earth and look over Mackay’s notes while Mackay explained his theory, not to Rush, but to Eli. If Eli is convinced, then Young is convinced.

But apparently, Rush has taken the day off. He’s in the interface chair running a program.

I’m sure most viewers were expecting a lot of interaction between Mackay and Rush in an episode like this. Certainly I think that would have been intreresting.

I wonder how that conversation would go. In some ways, Rush and Mackay are so similar. They are both insanely intelligent, but they also both have very similar personal flaws. And yet, they have just drastically different personalities.

If anything, I think Mackay would want to try to prove that he was the smartest, whereas Rush would even lower himself to that. He’d see such petty competition as beneath him.

Anyway, TJ says that Rush is basically in a sleep-like state in the chair.

He’s actually in what Perry calls an immersive simulation. It was already in Destiny’s database. Perry just had to find a way that they could experience the program together.

So…what are they doing in this simulation? Well……I’m sure you can guess what they’d be doing.

They appear to have just finished making love.

So the chair is now basically Stargate’s holodeck. They can create any simulated scenario  with hyper-realistic sensory input. and experience it. Maybe The Matrix is a slightly more accurate analogy.

Greer just donated a kidney, and he’s already running around the ship, trying to get some exercise. C’mon mate. This is a bit silly

Mackay and Eli are arguing passionately. They can’t seem to agree.

But not about the dialling program. They confirmed that was good and moved on a while ago.

We don’t actually get to learn what they were discussing. Probably something wonderfully nerdy.

Rodney actually likes Eli. Says he reminds him of himself at that age. He’s about to make a disparaging comment about Eli’s weight but before he can finish, Eli mentions Rodney’s hair.

Young says Rodney can go back to earth now. He’s a little disappointed, but if this works, he can always come back in person.

And when he appears back on earth, the first thing he says is “He didn’t eat any citrus while in my body did he, because I don’t feel great.” Ah, classic Rodney Mackay. He is, of course, allergic to citrus, which is a serious matter, but Atlantis and SG-1 often took delight in making jokes about it.

So it’s time to talk about the plan.

Woolsey has reservations.

And frankly, so do I.

The first few times I watched this episode, I was focussed on how cool it was to have Woolsey and Rodney on the show. This time around, I’m really thinking deeper about what they’re doing.

They’re going to go to another planet, and enact this plan against the will of the inhabitants.

And no matter how much Rodney and Eli say the plan is safe, I don’t think I’d be willing to risk this on a populated world - at least without their consent. If it goes wrong, they murder billions of people.

And let’s not forget, there are three main countries on Langara. Stargate Command are probably negotiating with the Kelownans. Even if they agree, Terrania and Andari are at just as much risk.

Woolsey wants to make some kind of peace offering.

According to intelligence, the alliance are likely to make their move on Langara in a few days, invited or not.

So O’Neil believes the Langarins would prefer to side with earth rather than the alliance.

The idea is to prove that Rodney’s dialling program is safe, to make Earth’s said more palatable.

Woolsey won’t support a mission to take the Langaran stargate by force, but Young says they won’t be doing that, and they do have a peace offering.

Greer is fighting another fever. He says he’ll fight harder, but TJ explains it doesn’t work that way. Greer remains unconvinced, which is unfortunate.

I think Greer’s unwavering belief in his strength is his greatest weakness.

A certain pig-headedness is probably advantageous for a marine, but Greer is so afraid of losing his macho image, not just in other people’s eyes, but in his own eyes, that he's making unwise decisions. Doing stupid things.

Greer’s smarter than that. But he’s blinded by his desire to be strong at all times.

Eli has figured out that Rush has uploaded his consciousness into Destiny’s computer.

Amanda finds life as an incorporeal thought pattern lonely. I wonder where Ginn is in all of this? Have these two tried interacting with one another at all?

Amanda wants Rush to keep their little simulation a secret. Rush was actually open to making it public.

But it’s not gonna stay a secret. Eli is already on the case.

Rush is being pretty responsible about this whole thing. He knows there’s a real world out there where he’s needed. He can’t just lose himself in this simulation.

When Rush tries to wake himself up, it doesn’t work.

Amanda taps away at a console, but Rush reminds her that nothing she does in here means anything. These are not real controls. They’re in a simulation that is isolated from the real ship. The only option is for her to appear in the real world and talk to someone.

Meanwhile, Eli is trying to get a hold of Ginn, who doesn’t seem to want to appear. He knows what Rush has done. He just doesn’t know how to fix it.

He and Ginn actually had the exact same idea. But Ginn didn’t want Eli to try it because uploading a human consciousness into a computer and back again is pretty dangerous. Which makes perfect sense.

Eli points out that on their way toward ascension, the ancients did a lot of work into transferring human consciousness. The communication stones were one example of that. And that makes a great deal of sense to me.

The reason Ginn is hiding is because she got annoyed at Eli when he tried to convince her he should take the risk.

Amanda says the problem was that Ginn’s disapproval manifested in preventing Rush’s wake-up from working, but it should be good now.

This time, when he tries, Rush wakes up surrounded by Eli, Brody, and Park.

Evidently, they have convinced Woolsey to go along with their plan. He gates to Langara and presents a gift for the ambassador. A carved ancient artefact.

When the soldier touches it, he is immediately body-swapped with Scott. Because, of course, the artefact is the communication stone.

Young takes over the administrator Halperin’s body in much the same way.

Young and Scott give a decent performance. Not all of the Langaran’s are entirely convinced. But they’ve prepared the way for the team from Earth to come.

They are going to attempt to dial the gate.

I’m gonna say it again. It’s awesome to see Mackay in SGU. 

He’s busy being Mackay about everything. And Young just says, “Shepherd’s right.”

Oh what  I would have given for a big crossover event stories with characters from SG-1, Atlantis, and Universe, as a way to finish off the story when this show was cancelled. Pity that never eventuated.

Whoolsey has a second objective. He’s searching the commander’s office.

Telford really wants Rodney on the new team that travels to Destiny, assuming they successfully dial the gate. Rodney is excited by the possibilities, of course, but he’s hesitant about the whole maybe never getting home thing.

But he’s taken that plunge before. He knowingly left Earth for Atlantis, knowing less about the place than he does Destiny, with the very real possibility they may never come back.

Rodney picks up on some of the tension between Telford and Young. Not so much personal tension anymore, but there’s still professional tension. Telford would like to be the one calling the shots. Then again, he was the first in line to come home when Eli was running his dialling program from within the star.

I think what it comes down to is that Young has Rush. Telford wants his own socially inept genius.

But Telford asks the question “what is it with genius and lack of social skills?” And that has me wondering. It’s a cliche in fiction, but is there a correlation in the real world? Is it common for real geniuses to lack social skills? I have a feeling that is the case, but is that just because I’ve been exposed to this trope so often in my fiction?

Woolsey has found evidence that the Langarans have refused to work with the Lucian Alliance, for fear of jeopardising their relationship with Earth. Time after time they’ve been offered more, and each time they’ve refused.

It looks like their spy satellites were wrong. The langarans are not working with the enemy.

Telford thinks this changes nothing.

Woolsey is not so sure.

Young gets a phone call for Administrator Helperin.

There are concerns from the higher ups. They’re on their way.

Perry appears to Rush, to make sure he got out okay. Then she vanishes.

We cut to Eli. Ginn appears and tells him she’s performed an emergency shut down of the FTL drive. She needs a distraction. Rush is still in the chair. What he thinks the world is not actually real.

Perry made a mistake and there is no way out of the simulation. Ginn doesn’t think Perry did it on purpose. She’s deceiving Rush to buy time until she can solve the problem.

But if this isn’t deliberate, why doesn’t she reach out to Eli like Ginn did? And why suppress Ginn was reaching out?

Anyway, Rush is not easily fooled. He figures out he’s still in the simulation and sets the ship to explode. This is Rush’s way out. If this doesn’t work, nothing will.

Perry insists that this is real. He’ll kill everyone on the ship.

Young says they need to reconsider. Telford is going by the adage “It’s better to ask forgiveness than permission. It’ll all be okay once it’s done and their point is proven.”

This is about to turn into a disaster. Armed guards enter. So they have two options. They stand down, or they defend themselves, with force, until the gate is dialled.

That means they fire on their allies. They kill innocent Langaran soldiers.

Young is not prepared to do that.

Telford is.

 It’s a very tense moment as they wait for the countdown to the 8th chevron.

In the end, it’s Rodney, of all people, who speaks the voice of reason and convinces Young to shut it down.

This mission is already a failure and it’s only going to get worse.

But the observed data so far suggests it probably would have worked.

Eli has everyone working on the problem.

Which is good because Rush’s plan didn’t work.

Destroying the ship didn’t get him out, but it did prove that he’s in a simulation.

Now Perry has to face Rush’s disappointment that she lied to him.

Then we get the bombshell. Perry programmed a parameter into the simulation. Rush can come and go as long as he and Perry love each other.

She loves him but she has concluded that he doesn’t love her.

Because he can’t leave.

Rush insists that he does love her.

This was all very unfair of Perry, which she admits to.

Love is a complex thing. It can’t be quantified as simply as Perry is trying to do.

Perry is head over heels for Rush. She’s been in love with him most of her life.

The feelings Rush has for Perry are different, because he is different.

His feelings for her are much newer. 

He is a more self-sufficient and selfish person by nature.

And he is still filled with grief over the death of his wife.

All of these factors, and probably many more, are causing the software to return a false value, rather than a true, to whether Rush loves her. But you can’t encapsulate love in a boolean value like that.

Relationships start very shallow. And they grow. They continue to grow over a lifetime.

The love my wife and I share now is different from the love we shared when I asked her to marry me. It’s stronger now. More mature. Deeper.

Perry is writing Rush off because she’s further along in her feelings than he is.

And that’s not just unfair, it’s stupid and naive.

I suspect Rush could love her in the way she wants. He was well on the way to that. Right now, he’s in the infatuation stage. But you can see it growing.

But there’s an even bigger bombshell.

The only way to get Rush out of this simulation now, is for Eli to delete the area of memory where it’s all stored. The area of memory where Perry and Ginn are stored.

For Rush to escape, both Perry and Ginn have to die.

So Perry plays Juliet, and childishly kills herself rather than live without the love she perceives Rush doesn’t have for her, and in the process, she murders Ginn.

Rush may be selfish, but he’s got nothing on Amanda Perry.

You can tell by the look on Rush’s face as she vanishes, that Perry was wrong about him.

Young and Scott are back. The Langarans have agreed to release Earth’s people in exchange for defence against the Lucian Alliance. And the removal of the stargate from their power generation facility. I guess they want it somewhere else, nowhere near their naquadria.

This has been an episode of massive screw-ups.

The one good decision made in this episode was by James. She showed her Langaran prisoners around the ship. Let them have a glimpse of the life those stranded crew are experiencing.

Rush wakes up from a coma after a few days.

We get one little bit of good news. Perry and Ginn aren’t gone forever. Not deleted, but quarantined. Cut off in a part of memory where they can no longer interact with the crew.

So while Ginn is not technically gone, she and Eli can’t see each other any more.

Maybe they can find a way to bring them back some day. It’s a small sliver of hope.

Eli made a huge sacrifice for Rush. He’s not going to be able to forgive Rush quickly for this, if ever.

In the last moment of the episode, we realise Greer has finally started listening to TJ, as he urges Rush to do the same.

So I bring you back the question I asked at the end of last episode.

Ginn and Perry are now gone.

If you could bring your loved one back again, to speak with them one more time, but then have to go through the pain of losing them a second time,  would you do it?

It’s an even more difficult question to answer now, isn’t it.

This was a powerful episode. I always remember this for the Langaran stuff. The coolness factor of seeing Rodney and Woolsey in Stargate Universe.

But in reality, I think that element is almost overshadowed by the emotional intensity of what has just happened, with the Amanda Perry plot.

We all feel insecurity at times. I certainly have, but Perry’s insecurity has taken everything from Eli, Ginn and even Rush.

I think the biggest takeaway from all of this is simply this.

In your insecurity, don’t do stupid things.

Next time, we’re getting into some old fashion Stargate planetary action, in The Hunt.

Today's episode of Stargate Universe delves deep into a lot of character emotions with two plots, neither of which presents great danger to the ship. Volker is facing a medical issue that could be managed on earth, but is life-threatening on Destiny. And the crew are shocked by the sudden re-appearance of a friend they thought was dead. Lots of great things to talk about in this one.

Find my original science fiction at http://www.AdamDavidCollings.com/books

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Welcome to Nerd Heaven

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a Nerd

This is episode 85 of the podcast.

Today, we’re talking about the Stargate Universe episode “Hope”

And if you’d like to check out my original science fiction books, head on over to AdamDavidCollings.com/books

The description on Gateworld reads

Chloe's body is taken over by the mind of someone the crew believed was dead. Meanwhile, T.J. must perform a dangerous transplant when Dr. Volker is diagnosed with an illness that threatens his life.

This episode was written by Carl Binder.

It was directed by William Waring

And it first aired on the 20th of February 2012

So they’re still waiting to get a stone connection from Earth. After 6 days, still wondering what happened to their home. Does Washington DC still even exist? Are all their superiors dead? Will they ever have contact with their loved ones again?

It’s got to be a hard thing to live with. That waiting. And of course, your mind is going to invent the worst possible scenario and play it over and over again. Anybody been there?

We get a throw-away line that Volker’s leg has fallen asleep. The first little bit of foreshadowing that something is wrong with him.

Eli can’t understand how Rush can not be worried about everything. Rush is actively trying to take Eli’s mind off things with the chess games. And probably trying to distract himself as well. But Rush is good at hiding away those pesky human feelings most of the time. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel the same things we do, he just liked to give the impression he’s got it all under control.

Brody and Volker are having a little argument about the theme from 2001 A Space Odessy. Volker insists on referring to it by its proper name. Sprach Zarathustra. It’s actually a piece of music composed by Strauss in 1896. Brody’s point is that everybody knows it as the 2001 theme. Most people don’t even know it existed before that movie.

It’s a pointless and juvenile thing to be bickering about. But again, it’s a way of distracting themselves from everything. From the problems on earth, and honestly, from the pain Volker is feeling right now.

But finally. Finally. They have a connection.

Somebody connects to Chloe’s body.

Young walks in and asks, who are you? Eager for news of Earth.

The response is the last thing he could ever have expected.

“I’m Ginn. What happened?”

As you can imagine, Eli comes running when he hears the news. And he so desperately wants this to be true. The others are a little sceptical, Rush probably most of all.

Ginn is telling her story. At first, she found it hard to breathe, because she was in Amanda Perry’s body.

She was asked a lot of questions about the Lucian Alliance, and then …. Nothing.

One minute she was answering questions and the next she was standing here.

When she looks in the mirror, she has a little moment of panic. What happened? Why didn’t I return to my own body?

She doesn’t know yet.

No point beating around the bush. Young tells her the truth. That Simeon killed her body and they received word that Perry’s body died at the same time.

What a thing to hear! How do you respond to that? What do you do with that?

David Blue does a great job of letting a whole lot of emotions show on his face.

Volker reports to TJ. He’s feeling a bit off.

Having trouble sleeping.

While she’s preparing something to calm him down, he collapses on the floor. There is clearly something wrong with him. More than he’s been letting on.

Eli thinks all of this makes no sense, but Young rightly points out, clearly, they don’t know as much about how the stones work as they think they do. Remember, it’s alien technology. It diodn’t come with a user manual.

When Ginn’s body was murdered, the connection wasn’t properly severed. Her consciousness could have been floating around in the system like a stray radio signal since then.

So why did she enter Chloe’s body now? Rush speculates. Maybe because Chloe fell asleep while on stone duty. It’s a good theory, but they can’t know for sure.

Scott raises a concerning question that nobody has thought about yet. Whose body is Chloe connected to?

After waking him up, TJ takes some tests. His blood pressure is high. He used to take pills for that. He’s been experiencing these symptoms for about a month.  He didn’t bother mentioning it to TJ because he thought there was nothing she could do about it, without the resources of Earth. But, there were other things she could have tried.

After doing some more tests, TJ has found that Volker is suffering from kidney failure. The problem with kidney disease is that by the time there are symptoms, it’s already too late. On earth, the next step would be dialysis.

But out here, what are they supposed to do?

This is a very real problem that I’m glad they addressed in Stargate Universe. When you’re remote and cut off from the rest of the world, health problems become a much bigger deal.

 Volker’s only option at this point is a transplant.

Eli explains the history to Ginn about Simeon and Rush’s revenge. Ginn is glad that Eli didn’t seek revenge in the same way. She didn’t want him to get hurt, which he kind of takes as a slight on his macho-ness, but before he can defend himself, she kisses him.

It takes a few minutes, but Eli realises he has to practice what he preaches. This is Chloe’s body. Not Ginn’s. He didn’t approve when Rush and Perry were going to use Ginn’s body inappropriately. Now he has to respect Chloe in the same way.

Of course, it’s a little harder when you’re the one who is going to miss out on the intimacy with someone you love.

To Ginn, this isn’t so much about the kiss. This is an uncomfortable reminder that she’s a disembodied spirit without a body. “What’s going to happen to me,” she asks. “Is there any way to get back into my own body?”

Eli tells her about the funeral they held for her. They buried her body on the next planet they found after her death.

This is a difficult situation for both of them.

For Eli, he had to grieve her loss, and now, he finds she’s not entirely dead. But she’s not entirely back, either. He gets to have what so many others have wished for throughout history. He gets to talk with his loved one. He gets to hear what she has to say back to him.

But having that only makes him want more. If some part of her is alive, he wants her back permanently, in a body of her own.

And that’s when she starts choking. That’s not good

TJ can’t find anything physically wrong with Ginn.

She really has her work cut out for her in this episode, doesn’t she? One patient with a life-threatening illness she probably can’t cure, and another going through something she can’t begin to comprehend.

Rush speculates it might be related to her death by strangling. She died while she was still connected to the stones. I’m not sure exactly how this is supposed to work. Rush’s explanation of energies didn’t make a lot of sense to me. But it’s interesting.

Scott wants to get her disconnected as soon as possible, to prevent risk to Chloe. Eli wants to further study this phenomenon. Disconnecting Chloe might mean losing Ginn forever.

Rush agrees there are scientific reasons to keep studying. Whatever his reasons, at least Rush’s agreement helps Eli convince TJ.

TJ explains the issue with Volker to Young. They can’t bring in a surgeon from Earth right now, as they’ve lost contact, even if they did have a donor. TJ is going to have to read up on organ transplants and try to perform the surgery herself. It must suck being the only medic on board, but not actually being a doctor. So much is expected and required of her. So much more than she is technically capable of.

But if not her, then who?

To find a compatible donor, she’ll need more than blood type. She’ll need tissue samples. With such a small group to pull from, it’s very unlikely she’ll find someone.

Scott and Greer are both possibilities. They at least have the right blood type. And we learn here that Greer is a marine. Most of the SGC personnel are air force.

It makes sense they’d bring some marines in, though. They’re supposed to be the best fighters, right?

So Rush is being Rush.

He goes to Young’s office to tell him the transplant surgery is fraught with danger.

And Young’s first question is, “Is your blood type compatible.” He knows Rush and his selfish ways too much.

But this isn’t about preventing risk to himself. He points out that a transplant will risk not just one life but two.

And that is very true. And it’s a good point. A sobering one.

But what’s the alternative? Just let Volker die?

I don’t think that’s an option. Not if there is somebody willing to take the risk to try to help him.

Ginn tells Eli that this time it feels different to the last time she used the stones.

And then she starts choking again.

And suddenly, it’s not Ginn speaking but Chloe.

So she’s still in there somewhere.

When she wakes up, she’s Ginn again.

Ginn doesn’t have any memory of being anywhere else while Chloe was in control.

And Scott has confirmed that the connection was not cut at any time.

Rush doesn’t think that Chloe is connected to anyone or anything at the other end. He thinks that Chloe and Ginn are both battling for control of the body. Not in a literal sense, but more subconscious. Ginn is supplanting Chloe.

Scott wants to disconnect the stones more than ever. It’s not worth risking Chloe’s life. Not even for Ginn

Rush still advises against it. Who knows what that will do?

Imagine being in Eli’s shoes.

The woman you love, versus another woman that you love, as a close friend.

He doesn’t want to lose either of them. That’s gotta be tearing him apart.

Young orders that next time Ginn has an attack, they’ll pull the stones.

I think part of the reason Rush is so against this is because of Amanda Perry. If Ginn’s consciousness was preserved, what about Amanda? Could she be stuck out there in cyberspace somewhere as well?

It’s a long shot, but when it comes to somebody you love, you’ll take the longest shot there is.

Ginn on the other hand, doesn’t want to hurt Chloe.

Because she’s a decent person.

She agrees with Young.

Chloe appears again but without any attack.

It seems they are randomly and rapidly changing now.

Eli speculates that Ginn’s energy is dissipated like a radio signal getting more and more distant.

That means, even without disconnecting, they may be running out of time before they lose Ginn completely.

Park, Brody and Volker are all helping TJ investigate options for making the transplant more successful. There’s an amusing moment when Park mentions one of the side effects of a particular option. And then it gets even more amusing when Volker asks “Why id that funny?”

If you’ve seen the episode recently you know what I’m talking about. You kinda have to be there.

TJ has found two matches. Greer and Dr. Morrison.

The best match is 6 antigen, which usually happens in families. Both of these guys are a 4 antigen match.

A surprisingly good match given the circumstances.

Morrison angrily demands to know how accurate TJ’s tests are because he doesn’t want to risk himself for nothing.

But before Morrison can even finish, Greer says “I’ll do it.”

Because he’s Greer. And of course, he will.

I swear, every episode he’s in, I love Greer more and more.

TJ needs to take some bone marrow from Greer. She offers to put him to sleep. He says the drugs are too important to waste on this. He’ll just endure the pain.

And while I admire him for this, I think that maybe he’s being more of a hero than he needs to be.

I’d be taking the darn medicine.

But then, he’s a marine, and I’m a wimp.

As Greer lies down to have the procedure done, Volker thanks him.

Greer says “no big deal.”

Volker rightly points out that it is a big deal.

And Greer just says “You’d do the same for me.”

And he genuinely believes that. Greer is a good person and he believes in the goodness of others.

Does Volker agree? Would he do the same for Greer? I think he’s like most of us. He’s probably thinking something like “I hope I would.”

I mean, it’s easy to say “Yes, I’d risk my life and endure great pain to help you.” And I firmly believe that we should all be prepared to do that for our fellow human. But to take the plunge in that moment, that would take courage.

Greer tries to lighten the mood with a fake-out scream of pain.

Now I don’t usually agree that serious stories always need “lightening up” in tense moments, but in this case, yeah, I actually appreciated that moment of levity. I’m pretty squeamish about medical stuff.

When TJ does the procedure for real, you can see Greer fighting against the pain, holding back the scream. Some wonderful acting from Jamil Walker Smith.

Eli and Rush haven’t had any luck disconnecting the stone device. Chloe and Ginn are switching rapidly now.

Both Chloe and Ginn have expressed concern for each other, even at the risk to themselves. Now there’s a thematic link between the two plots in this episode. Nicely done.

Scott assures Chloe they won’t do anything that will harm her. And Eli assured her that neither of them want her to come to any harm. Given the closeness between him and Ginn, he kind of needs to make that assurance. To remind her how much he cares about her too.

The plan is to try to find a safe place to store Ginn’s consciousness.

Scott is really concerned. He doesn’t want this to go on. He approaches Eli and basically tries to tell him he needs to sacrifice Ginn. “I know you miss her..but…” he begins.

And then the big surprise. Suddenly, the body is controlled not by Ginn, or by Chloe.

It’s Amanda Perry!

Now Rush gets to have the same reunion with his loved one that Eli has had.

Ginn and Chloe are both fading, and Perry is becoming more prominent.

That means that Eli is suddenly in the same boat as Scott. Now he has a sense of how Scott’s been feeling this whole time.

Now as much as Eli wants to save all of them, I can we can safely assume that Rush’s priority is Amanda Perry, and he’d sacrifice both Chloe and Ginn in a heartbeat to save her.

He's probably already formulating an argument about how important to the stargate program Perry is, and why she has greater value.

Rush does have an idea.

Use the interface chair to upload the disembodied consciousness into the computer, removing them from Chloe’s body.

And you just see them all roll their eyes. Not the chair again. It’s always the chair.

And this is when Rush has to come clean that he’s seen Franklin as a kind of ghost.

Rush reveals that he managed to separate his mind from the projections a while back, which is why we haven’t seen Franklin or Rush’s dead wife in some time.

Scott reminds them all that the chair didn’t work on Chloe last time they tried it. Then, Rush was trying to remove the alien influence from her.

This is different.

And he’s right about that. I’m not sure Rush ever expected the chair to work last time. But this is something he knows it can do.

Scott wants assurance that there is no harm to Chloe.

Rush can’t give that. In fact, he’ll have to remove some of the safeguards he put on the chair to it usable. And that’s kind of scary.

Rush thinks the chances of her being harmed are minimal.

And Scott reminds them all it’s not their decision to make.

It’s Chloe’s.

But … do Ginn and Perry get a say as well? That’s an interesting ethical question.

TJ is nervous about the surgery. She’s not even close to qualified to perform it.

So is Volker. For him, I don’t think it’s a lack of faith in TJ, he just doesn’t like hospitals and doctors.

Greer jokes that this is no hospital, and TJ is no doctor.

And that got a laugh out of me. Our Volker too.

Chloe has decided to try the chair. She doesn’t want them to risk disconnecting the stones, in case Ginn and Perry are lost.

When we next see TJ, we realise she’s not just nervous. She’s very scared. If she does this surgery, both patients could die. Of course, if she doesn’t Volker will die.

Young is not going to order her to do it. She knows what needs to be done She’ll do the right thing.

Rush is explaining to Perry the plan to temporarily store her consciousness in the computer. He promises to find a way to get perry into a new body. That has been her dream since the accident. A dream that nobody could ever have thought could be remotely possible.

TJ is finally ready but Volker and Greer have gone to the hydroponic dome. It’s the closest thing to a backyard they have. Greer is trying to calm and comfort Volker. I think from here onward, there’s gonna be a special bond between these two characters. I’ll be keeping a specific eye out for that from here on, this time.

Greer tells Volker “we’re gonna be fine.” He’s very optimistic. At least, that’s what he shows on the outside. Who knows what’s going on inside.

With them all in the medical bay, ready to go, Brody tries to comfort them all by playing some music. It’s the theme from 2001. Volker’s favourite. But he quickly realises that the bombastic melody is hardly relaxing and not very appropriate.

He tries to stop it but drops his music player, which proceeds to play some very funny-sounding silly music. Perhaps a guilty pleasure of Brody’s. He looks incredibly embarrassed as he fumbles to stop the music. Another amusing scene.

Stargate Universe is doing a good job incorporating some humour into the show, in a way that doesn’t pull you out of the seriousness of the story. It doesn’t get enough credit for that.

As you know by now, I’m fine having a serious show without any humour, but I’m also fine with this type of humour. But some people just seem to want everything to be a Marvel movie. I like Marvel, but I don’t want their tone in everything, especially stories I take very seriously.

Now it’s Eli’s turn to talk to Ginn before the procedure. He encourages her that this will only be temporary.

Eli and Rush both believe that, although neither of them has any clue how they could possibly get these consciousnesses into new bodies. This isn’t Star Trek Picard.

That’s when Ginn stars choking again

TJ is already in the middle of surgery. Young tells her they need to do the transfer now. She can’t leave. She’ll be in this surgery for a good 4 hours.

So Young is gonna have to do it without her.

But something weird happens with the computer. Everything is offline. Putting Volker’s operation at risk as well as the chair transfer.

After a little argument about which consciousness is which, Rush and Eli manage to upload two minds from Chloe’s body into the computer. But which ones?

TJ can’t do the surgery without the computer to guide her.

Then Amanda Perry appears, as a mental projection from the ship. She can help. She is a scientist and she has access to all the ship’s medical knowledge. Once again, Destiny is helping her crew.

Brody and Park question TJ who seems to be talking to herself. But when she says “I’ll explain later,” they take it at face value and go with it. After all the weird things they’ve seen, that’s the correct thing to do. And TJ has this authority in the way she says it. She doesn’t have time to explain. She’s the doctor here. She needs them to trust her.

Rush has confirmed there are two new programs on the computer. One is active - that’s Perry.

Looks like both of their mental patterns have been saved.

The surgery is complete. With Perry’s help, TJ has saved Volker and Greer.

Now they’ve just gotta wait to see if Volker’s body rejects the kidney.

Greer is insistent. He won’t.

And Communication is back online. Finally. Telford appears to tell them there were some issues with the stones at their end which took a few days to fix, but the bomb was diffused. Washington is safe.

That’s gotta be a big relief.

Rush goes to the bridge, hoping to see Perry. He does. She’s projected there.

Brody and Volker have a very close bond, but it’s a typical male friendship. They’d do anything for each other, but they find it difficult and uncomfortable to express that care verbally.

Greer has a little infection but it should be fine

Ginn finally appears to Eli. She says that seeing him, hearing his voice. It’s enough for now.

But as she tries to touch his face, and her hand passes straight through his body, I’m not sure either of them truly believes that.

And that brings me to my big question for the episode.

If they hadn’t succeeded with the chair, Ginn and Perry would have been lost.

If you had lost a loved one, and you had the chance to bring them back temporarily, to speak one last time, but after that’s you’d have to lose them all over again, would you do it?

I’m not sure. It’s hard to put myself in the position of having lost of a wife. Maybe it would depend on how things ended. Did I get closure? Did we get to say goodbye? I suspect I’d do anything to see and hear her again, but then that pain of losing her a second time, I don’t know if I’d be able to bear that.

Anyway, hold this thought, because we may come back to this in a few episodes.

Hope was another fantastic episode of Stargate Universe, delving into themes of selflessness and self-sacrifice. Wonderful character story.

Next time, we’ll be talking about a very exciting episode. And we’ll see a couple of familiar faces. I can't wait to delve into Seizure.

Until then, have a great two weeks.

Live long and prosper

Make it so.

We've been expecting it all season, but finally, the Lucian Alliance make their move against Earth. And Camille and Greer are stuck in the middle of it. This is an exciting episode, but also a deeply character-centric episode. Let's talk about the Stargate Universe episode "Alliances".

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Welcome to Nerd Heaven

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a Nerd

This is episode 84 of the podcast.

Today, we’re talking about the Stargate Universe episode “Alliances”.

The description on Gateworld reads

While a U.S. Senator visits Destiny, Camille and Sgt. Greer are trapped when Homeworld Command comes under alien attack.

This episode was written by Linda McGibney

It was directed by Peter DeLuise

And it first aired on the 21st of March 2011.

This episode picks up right after Twin Destinies, dealing with the fallout of all that happened.

Telford, the alternate timeline Telford, has arrived back on Destiny using the communication stones. He wants to know what happened. Young and Rush explain the whole time-travel thing. They speculate on what happened to everyone else who went through the gate. Rush says they were likely just killed.

When Telford asks what happened to the other version of him, Young simply says that he died trying to retrieve technology from the other destiny. It was an accident. He doesn’t say who caused that accident.

That’s got to be a lot to take in. How would you react to something like that? Technically, you’re no longer in the timeline that you belong to, but the version of you here is now dead.

He visibly shakes it off and says he’s fine. He gets it. Well…understanding intellectually what happened is one thing. Figuring out how you’re supposed to feel about it? That’s something else.

But Telford has been in the Stargate program long enough to know that weird stuff happens.

This is when we learn that a senator is coming on board. She wants to decide if it’s worth spending money to try finding another Icarus-style planet so they can send more people and equipment to Destiny, in particular, Rush’s “message from God” , a name that he objects to. But this revelation has understandably created quite a stir back home.

If they do manage to get a working wormhole to Destiny, it still only means they can send. Nobody on the ship is getting home that way. Remember that stargate wormholes are one-way.

It certainly would be a game-changer for them to get some supplies from Earth. Food. Medicine. Even entertainment. All of those things would make a significant improvement to the crew’s quality of life.

Camille is going to swap bodies with the senator so she can check in with the IOA.

They also need a male volunteer. This is confirmation that they actively try to match the sex of the people swapping bodies. It makes a lot of sense. Less awkward that way.

Camille suggests Greer. He hasn’t used the stones since they arrived here. He was borderline unstable when they came here (remember he was in the brig for attacking Telford). It’s funny, but I think Greer is doing better since he ended up stranded on this ship. He’s got it a lot more together than he did in the pilot. This mission has been good for him. Perhaps helped him figure out what’s really important.

He argues with Camille that he doesn’t need R&R. He sees himself as the perfect soldier. He doesn’t need rest. Greer IS a good soldier. One of the best, probably. But this is his big weakness. None of us are perfect. We all need basic things like rest. His unwillingness to accept that about himself could be a big problem for him and is likely at the root of his previous issues.

Camille and Greer are greeted with a very cold reception on Earth. They’re challenged to identify themselves and provide authentication codes at gunpoint. Now, authenticating a stone user is only common sense, and is a normal part of the procedure, but it’s the way they’re doing it. The gun, the aggressive tone.

Telford explains. Earth is on a high terrorist alert. Nothing has happened yet but they’re expecting the Lucian Alliance to attack Earth at any time.

That’s scary.

And the target is homeworld command in Washington.

Eli, Brody, and Volker are wondering who this guy is that’s been sent to check up on them. His name is Dr. Covel. He’s the new head of research at Stargate Command. Rush has worked with him before.

Interestingly, Covel is played by an actor named French Stewart, who played Ferretti in the original Stargate movie, but not in SG-1. So that’s cool.

Senator Michaels wants a final and straight answer. Is dialling the stargate from within a star a feasible way to get home? Covel says the numbers looked good, but agrees with Rus that conditions within a star are inherently unpredictable. He’s just sad nobody was able to go over the logs on the other Destiny before it was destroyed. AT the time, getting spare parts was more important than validating alternate Rush’s story.

Michaels is almost assuming that the other Rush lied about what really happened. She claims that her opinion of Rush is based entirely on Young’s reports. And while Young admits they’ve had their differences, He still stands by the decision he made to support Rush and remain behind with him, with sufficient volunteers.

Rush listens in a little to this conversation before making his presence known.

Michaels evades Rush’s question of ‘what are we talking about’ with a request to see Chloe. She’s known the family since Chloe was a little girl.

Young gives Rush a knowing look. Rush wouldn’t have asked what they were talking about if he hadn’t already known the answer.

Back on earth, they’re sweeping the base for radiation. There have been some off-world bases where Lucian alliance people have planted naquadria bombs. One of those would do more than destroy Washington. It would probably destroy the whole of North America. And an explosion that big would probably affect the whole world.

Luckily it’s all clear.

Greer wants to stay at homeworld command and help. He knows the Lucian Alliance. He’s lived with them and he never trusted them. I think there’s a bit of a subtle dig at Telford here, who was brainwashed into being one of their operatives.

But Telford dismisses Greer. Those two have a lot of history between them.

There’s some unresolved conflict between Greer and Camille as well. He doesn’t believe any of the intel the prisoners on board destiny provided. He thinks they should have done more to prevent the coming attack. And then it happens. 

As the building shakes, and the ceiling begins to collapse, Greer drags Camille out of the way, saving her life.

They find Chloe on the bridge. Covel is impressed by what he sees. Chloe is delighted to see Michaels.

Chloe has been working on improving the ship’s navigation. They’re continuing to put her new knowledge to good use.

The main difference between Rush and Covel is that Covel seems a lot more personable. He actually has some warmth for Rush, while Rush seems very cold toward Covel.

Rush plays him a recording of the fingerprint. The message Destiny was sent to follow. Covel can see the structure, even though the message is millions of years old, recorded on technology he doesn’t understand and filtered through algorithms he couldn’t begin to comprehend.

But he’s not sure he believes this whole thing. He can’t transmit the data back home to be analysed properly by a whole team of people. With the stones, it’s all word of mouth. They have to trust what Rush tells them.

Covel is worried about the political aspects of all this. A lot of people will see this as proof of the existence of God, and some of them will try to twist this to further their own agendas. And then there will be those on the other side who try to bury and suppress the whole thing. I like how Covell doesn’t just demonise religious people here. He’s more even handed than that. He sees that there will be people on both sides wanting to further their own agenda with all of this. But one thing seems likely, this will become the greatest controversy of all time, to those who know about it.

But Rush sees this as Covel not wanting to pick a side because he’s not sure which is gonna win. 

Michaels seems to feel a special responsibility for getting Chloe home. Unlike the rest of the crew, she and Eli are not members of Stargate command. The others signed up to work on some distant planet filled with danger, even though they may not have anticipated getting stranded so far from home. Michaels never thought that life was for Chloe. Her father had such plans for her. It seems like such a waste.

But I don’t think Chloe feels the same way about her life. Remember, last time, she was one of the first to volunteer to remain on Destiny instead of gating home.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen an earth-bound story on SGU. One of the things that make the Stargate franchise unique and special is its present day setting. Yes, we get aliens and spaceships and distant planets, but we also see our own familiar world with cars and shops and pizza.

Telford is among the survivors who have escaped outside. Camille and Greer are trapped under a whole lot of rubble. Camille manages to dig herself free. She finds Greer and helps him out. Greer’s knee is twisted. He’s kind of stuck under the concrete. And that means that Covel’s knee is twisted, because that’s his body Greer is using. It’s such a responsibility being in someone else’s body, isn’t it.

The building shakes and a whole lot more rubble falls. The explosions have weakened the structure of the building.

Camille uses sticky tape to make a brace for Greer’s leg. It works.

These two are doing better than a lot of others. They’ve found some survivors, who are in bad shape. They find some who are already dead.

Camille manages to get a radio signal out to Delford. Turns out the explosion was a cloaked Goa’uld cargo ship. It crashed into the building. The point of impact was near the comm room where the stones live. Camille and Greer shouldn’t still be on earth. That means the stones must still be connected somehow.

Telford is concerned there is no way they’d launch an attack just with a single cargo ship, without packing a little something extra. Maybe a bomb on board as yet unexploded. That means they need to get out of there. Soon.

Young and Scott are escorting Michaels around the ship, giving her the tour. They introduce her to TJ and Varo.

Michaels wants a private word with TJ. She knows the pressure TJ has been under trying to keep all these people alive. TJ is feeling pretty upbeat about her work. Things have been easier since they unlocked the medical database. But she’s only had a medic’s training. She’s not a doctor.  TJ doesn’t think they’re likely to find many volunteers, even if they could manage to dial Destiny. It’s knowing they might never return home. How many people would be willing to make that kind of one way trip. I suspect TJ might be surprised.

The survivor’s way out is blocked. Telford is trying to get a bomb disposal crew to deal with the ship, but he’s not overly hopeful. They think the bomb is naquadria and they’ve started evacuations. What exactly do they think evacuation can do? Evacuate to where? This is naquadria.

Camille has an interesting idea. If they can’t get out, and the bomb team are having trouble getting to the ship, maybe she, Greer, and the other survivor should go for the bomb. It makes a lot of sense, actually.

Telford has concerns. It’s very risky. And he rightly points out that they’re not even in their own bodies. They’re risking the lives of Covel and Michaels by doing this. But, if that bomb goes off, they’re all dead. That will kill Covel and Michaels anyway.

So Covel goes to meet Eli and gushes all over what he calls The Boy Wonder.

Meanwhile, Brody and Volker are like “Hey. We work here too.” A nice little bit of humour that makes perfect sense in character and in the situation.

Covel wants to know what Eli really thinks about Rush’s discovery.

Camille wants Greer to stop playing the hero, just once, and think a little about how they go about getting to the ship. This situation gives Greer a chance to really have it out with Camille. Seems he has some issues with her. In particular, he has a problem with people who talk and talk and nothing gets done. He doesn’t think she knows him. She knows a file on a desk. 

Camille thinks he’s afraid of her because she helps people, but she can only do that if they are willing to admit they have a problem and that’s something Greer refuses to do.

Greer thinks she wants to feel like she makes a difference but in reality, she just takes up space.

This is a great dramatic character scene for these two. I love it.

The other survivor interrupts their argument long enough to find the tech who was sweeping the building. He’s dead but the Geiger counter is working. We get some great acting from Ming Na as Camille responds to the gruesome body. Ming Na tends to play really tough characters. Camille is a very different role for her. Oh, she’s still a very strong person, but not in the physical sense, like most of the actresses’ roles. And I think she’s brilliant.

So The whole area is flooded with radiation. Deadly levels.

There’s a very sombre moment when Greer says “so if we stay here much longer we’ll die.”

And Camille says “No. We’re dead already.”

I have no words to respond to that.

Michaels hasn’t finished her assessment but she has some concerns. It took a long time to get the first Icarus base up and running. Even if they could find a planet tomorrow, which is very doubtful, and they got presidential approval, it would still take at least 6 months before they could dial the ship. Covel bluntly says he doesn’t think the crew will last that long. He doesn’t think Destiny will last that long.

He blames Young and his crew for that. Since they arrived, they’ve brought  Destiny to the brink of destruction multiple times. And … well….he’s not wrong about that. I’m not sure he can really blame them for most of that, although it was their deliberate decision to go exploring recently that led to the ship’s significant battle damage from the drone ships.

Camille is feeling really guilty. They’ve doomed Michales and Covel. It’s their bodies that are flooded with radiation.

The airman still wants to try to get out. Camille doesn’t even see the point. It’s over.

Destiny is about to drop out of FTL which means the stone connection will be temporarily interrupted.

Michaels and Covel find themselves trapped under rubble, their bodies flooded with lethal radiation. While they freak out, Camille quickly reports to Young.

 And that’s when the airman decides to hold something sharp to Camille’s neck, ordering Greer to put down his own gun or he’ll kill her.

In an example of really unfortunate timing on Young’s part, he decides to disconnect the stones long enough to get a proper report from Camille and Greer, which would leave Michaels with a weapon to her neck and Covel pointing a gun at the airman. What could possibly go wrong?

But nothing happens. Young removes the stones, but Michals and Covel are still connected.

That’s weird.

The airman is trying to get them all to look for an escape. He still thinks there’s a chance they can survive.

Camile doesn’t want Greer to drop the gun. Even if she dies, he can still go and disarm the bomb.

She thinks if the airman gets the gun he’ll kill them both. He’s Lucian Alliance.

Greer shoots the guy.

Ironically, it was Camille’s knowledge of personal files that helped her identify who this guy really was. She proves it by uncovering a clan tattoo.

The plan was probably to just land the cloaked ship on the roof and walk away.

I think the show might be redefining just what a destructive force naquadria is. It must be a tiny tiny amount. Which does make sense, since it is so rare in the galaxy.

The radiation is spiking, which means they’re getting close.

They’ve found the hull.

Camille tries to tell Telford she’s found the bomb, but her radio isn’t working. Too much radiation. There is nobody to tell her how to disarm the bomb.

Rush is trying to figure out why the stones are not disconnecting. They’ve seen radiation cause interference  before, but they’re still there, which means the signal is getting through. So the radiation is just interfering with the commands of the system.

Covel has done a lot of research into the stones. He might be able to solve this problem.

Varro knows he’s probably the last person Young wants to see right now, being former Lucian Alliance, but he can tell them how to diffuse the bomb. If only they could get that information to Camille and Greer somehow.

Young’s question is, how can he trust that Varo is telling the truth?

Eli has a good idea. They could jump to FTL which would interrupt the stones again. They’ll have about 12 seconds at the most to explain the disarming process. But they only just dropped out which means they could blow up the engine. Eli thinks they can live with it, but they can only do it once. OTherwise they’ll completely destroy the engines. It’s a reasonable plan, but once again, the crew will be bringing Destiny to the brink of destruction.

Camille figures out some of it herself. The bomb is covered by a hologram that prevents you from seeing what you’re doing, so you have to disarm by feel alone.

Chloe has a chat with Michaels. Explaining how she was going to voluntarily stay in the other timeline. She tells Michaels what this mission means to her. How she feels like she’s part of something important. Chloe is probably the only person who Michaels will truly receive this message from.

This may be the only way to convince her to keep supporting this mission.

They get their 12 seconds. Varro explains as quickly as he can. They get back before he’s entirely finished, or so it seems. Varro doesn’t know if they understood. But Camille and Greer are doing their best. At least they have some idea what they’re doing now.

But they both missed the last part.

This is when Rush reveals that Covel has been sabotaging their attempts to disconnect the rings.

He doesn’t deny it. He saw the radiation levels when he went home. He knows their bodies are as good as dead.

He needed time to think.

Rush tries to remind him of what happens when somebody who is connected dies. The people at both ends die.

Covel argues that Doctor Perry was in a weakened state. They don’t know for sure what will happen this time. Again, more awesome callbacks. All these episodes tie together like a beautiful tapestry.

In Young’s view, Covel is trying to steal Greer’s body, since his own is no good.

Why do they get to live and we don’t, Covel says. They put us in this position.

It was easy for them to take a risk because they weren’t going to have to suffer the consequences.

And that’s a heavy statement.

And it may be true. As careful as Camille and Greer were, as guilty as they now feel, you can’t tell me that even subconsciously, just a little, they might have been more open to risk in somebody else’s body. It would be human nature. We are, at our core, selfish beings by nature.

This is a very difficult moral dilemma. But to Young it’s pretty clear. Covel will be going back to die in his own body. He doesn’t get a choice.

If I had to make the decision, I’d probably make the one Young has just made, but, I tell you, it would take a lot of soul-searching to do it. It certainly wouldn’t be easy. Honestly, I don’t know if I could do it.

Speaking of dilemmas, Camille and Greer have one of their own.

They’re not sure of the last step. They could try something, but that could make the bomb go off. It’s gonna go off anyway, but every second the bomb doesn’t go off, is another second the evacuees have to get further away from the danger. Camille’s voice cracks as she says it. What an emotional ride.

They seem to have settled on just waiting for it to happen. Their death is already certain.

And that gives them the chance for another quiet character monet together.

Camille is sorry they never got along better. They’re just so different. Greer is a man of action. He likes to do things. Camille likes to talk them through.

Greer says well we’re not going anywhere, so let’s talk.

But Camille can’t think of anything else to say.

Which Greer and I both find quite amusing.

Varo has time to fully educate Michaels and Covel on how to disarm the bomb, including that elusive last step.

So when Rush disconnects the stones, which he can now do, they’ll be able to save the day.

Michaels last words before she’s ready to go are to ask Young to tell Chloe she’s proud of her.

Michaels knows she is going to her death.

So does Covel.

It’s hard for me to begin to imagine a moment like that.

Knowing that you’re going to have to die, and there’s no way out.

They appear back on Earth and do disarm the bomb.

The inevitable death of Michaels and Covel really tears my guts apart.

Back on Destiny, it’s been hours. Greer and Camille are still waiting for news from Earth.

They haven’t managed to get a connection yet, but they have somebody on stone duty around the clock.

Camille is worried about Sharon, who lives in DC.

Greer is thinking of his Mum. Things haven’t been all that good between them.

There are a lot of things he wishes he never got to say to her last time he had the chance.

I think he’s finally ready for a trip back home, if and when that becomes an option.

This was another fantastic episode of Stargate Universe. The writing, both in terms of character and plot, was top notch. This was Linda McGibney‘s first script as a new staff writer, and I think she nailed it. And some wonderful performances from the actors as well.

It’s the big set piece episodes that tend to stick out in my memory, but this one is from now on definitely a favourite.

Next time, we’ll see a surprise return from a character we thought was dead. In the episode Hope.

Until then, have a great two weeks

Live long and prosper

Make it so.

Here's a bonus episode for you. While I've been a life-long fan of DC Comics characters such as Superman and Batman, I've never really been a comic reader. But that is changing thanks to DC Universe Infinite. I talk about the service, and my experience trying to break into the complex world that is DC Comics. I also share some mini reviews of:

* Superman Secret Origin

* Superman: Last Son

* Batrman Year 1

* The Flash: Born to Run

In this fan favourite episode of Stargate Universe, Eli believes he can dial the gate back to Earth from inside a star, but Rush wants to remain behind with a team to complete Destiny's mission. But when the attempt thrusts Destiny and Rush back through time, they have to re-think their plan. Lots of drama in this one. But what did I think of it?

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Welcome to Nerd Heaven.

I’m Adam David Collings,

The author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a Nerd.

This is episode 83 of the podcast.

Today, we’re talking about the Stargate Universe episode, Twin Destinies.

This is our second time-travel story in Stargate Universe. Notice I said story, not episode. That’s because the time-travel element of this story will reach beyond just this episode.

The description on gateworld reads

Rush expresses concerns when Earth approves Eli's plan to dial the Stargate home from inside a star -- and is proved right when a duplicate of himself shows up with a warning from the future.

This episode was written by Brad Wright

It was directed by Peter DeLuise

And it first aired on the 14th of March 2012

Destiny is in bad shape. Remember, it went through a massive space battle in the last two episodes and that damage has not been magically fixed. Again, something I wish Voyager had done more of. We don’t get a lot of space battles in Stargate Universe, but when we do, they matter. They have consequences.

Most systems are technically working, but Brody says it best. “We’re down to our last everything. There is no redundancy left.”

Rush’s perspective is that there’s nothing we can do about it, so let’s quit whinging and carry on with the mission as best we can. It’s not like we have a choice.

But Eli thinks there may be a choice.

Back in early season 1, the brains back on Earth formulated a plan to get the crew home. The idea was to dial the stargate while inside a star. Telford was a big proponent of this plan, although technically, that was alternate Telford, under the control of the Lucian Alliance.

The plan never worked and it was shelved, but recently, Eli and Gin started working on it again. Gin had some new insights to offer. Eli believes he can now dial the gate while Destiny recharges, without blowing up the ship. He has a simulation to prove it.

Rush doesn’t think the plan can account for the many things that could go wrong.

But, of course, Rush doesn’t want to go home anyway.

He says the plan could cause the same kind of overload that happened at Icarus, which would destroy the ship. Scott doesn’t see why that’s a problem, if they’ve all successfully gated home, but Rush makes it plainly clear that he intends to remain on board, even if everyone else gates home. He wants to stay here and complete the mission.

Young admits he was on board with trying to fulfil Destiny’s mission, but things have changed. They’re in really poor shape, and his first responsibility is to the people on this ship.

I don’t blame him. In his position, if he has a viable plan for getting home, he has to try it. He owes that to his people.

But I do feel for Rush as well, who would choose to remain. I think he should have that choice, but it may be taken away from him if the attempt will destroy the ship.

Young has banned Rush from anywhere he can push buttons, including the bridge. Armed guards are in place to enforce it. He’s not taking any chances that Rush might sabotage the attempt. And I wouldn’t put it past him. He’s done stuff like that before.

But Rush may have some genuine concerns regarding this plan. He points out that Eli is not an astro-physicist. He’s a maths whizz. But the inside of a star is inherently unpredictable. The best mathematical model can’t predict the unpredictable.

But then, that’s why Eli is running it all past the best minds of Earth.

It’ll be interesting to see if they agree with Rush, as he suspects.

Rush wants to address the crew, to try to make his case for the importance of remaining on the ship. He says it’ll carry more weight if Young stands beside him.

And it warms my heart when Young says “I can do that.”

Young doesn’t trust Rush as far as he can throw him, but I do like it when they work together like this.

Rush seems satisfied.

Telford is very dismissive of Rush. He can’t imagine why anyone would want to stay. He hasn’t been here long and he’s ready to leave, which is interesting, given how desperate lucian-controlled Telford was to get on board back in season 1.

But there’s a nice shot of Young at the end of the scene. You can tell, by his facial expression, that he’s thinking deeply about all of this. He’s taking all opinions seriously, including Rush’s.

It’s so cool to see Doctor Lee again. He’s the one who has traded places with Eli using the stones. He’s surprised that “The Gamer” came up with this model.

But I seem to remember Doctor Lee being quite into World of Warcraft. Although, technically, that was a false Doctor Lee created by energy beings in the Pegasus Galaxy, based on the crew’s memories. I always thought that Lee came across geekier than normal in that episode, which might make sense, since that’s probably how Doctor Weir viewed him.

I know this is off-track, but it’s just cool to see a familiar background character from SG-1 and Atlantis.

There’s an amusing moment between Brody and Eli. Brody tells Lee that Eli is possibly the smartest person he’s met, but doesn’t want Eli to know. It gets super awkward when he realises Eli heard part of the comment.

But it’s actually a little sad when we can’t bring ourselves to tell people what we really think about them. I think the world could use a little more positive encouragement like that. As people, we’re always so quick to point out the negative, but too often, the positive goes unsaid.

Anyway, the people back on Earth are happy with Eli’s maths. The plan is a go.

They drop out of FTL and everyone gathers in the gateroom.

Rush is looking a little nervous. Is he going to be able to convince anyone?

Young approaches Rush and asks a very interesting question. 

“Can you operate this ship?”

“With some help.”

“What’s the minimum you need to be able to do it? I need a number.”

Rush says twelve.

And then Young says “plus you and me?”

Rush is very taken aback.

What? Is Rush thinking of staying?

“No, including,” he says.

“So ten.”

Before they can talk more, Telford calls them to the bridge.

Something very weird is happening.

They’ve received a subspace transmission from Rush. He’s aboard the shuttle, except the shuttle is currently docked with destiny.

The alternate Rush warns them not to dial Earth, or they’ll all die. He says the only reasonable explanation is that he’s somehow travelled back through time.

I love Telford’s reaction to this, as he scoffs under his breath “reasonable explanation.”

C’mon Mate. You’re on a spaceship billions of lightyears from Earth. You know time travel is possible.

Rush is from 12 hours in the future.

And he gives strong evidence for his story by recounting their previous conversation about the number. Ten plus two.

Back in the gateroom, people are eagerly waiting to go home. Scott tells Chloe how he was so excited to go on this mission, but now, all he can think of is seeing his son. Nice that they’re remembering and acknowledging that detail.

But Scott is more nervous about meeting Chloe’s mum than he is going through the Stargate.

Eli wants to make sure that once they return to Earth, they’re all going to continue hanging out.

Scott says there’ll be a reunion every year. Eli was hoping for something more regular. But it all depends if he’ll be stationed on Earth. Eli is a little taken aback. Stargate Command are not going to ask him to join.

And everyone else is a little taken aback by that.

Of course they’re going to ask him. He’ll be right up there with Doctor Jackson, Colonel Carter, and who was that guy who kept staring at your…” Mackay, James says.

That’s awkward. I’d like to hope that Mackay and Dr. Kellar are married and enjoying their happily ever after at this point. But who knows.

TJ is right about that, of course. The SGC would be insane not to put Eli to work somewhere.

There are looks of concern when Scott and Greer are asked to report to shuttle bay two. Especially since they only have one shuttle.

The being that emerges from the shuttle certainly looks like Rush. He rushes at Telford, saying “He’s gonna try to kill you all. Don’t listen to him.”

That’s when Young calls TJ to the infirmary.

He’s got a burn from an overload. Explosions all over the ship. The air got so toxic he had to abandon ship.

But the time travel must have happened inside the star. They must have passed through a solar flare just as they locked in the nine chevron address. But rather than re-directing the wormhole, it seems to have thrust the entire ship back through time. So a new twist on an existing established method of time travel in the Stargate universe.

They also suggest that the Destiny from the future is still out there somewhere.

Future Rush starts to recount what happened in his timeline.

After they agreed on the number, 10 volunteers, Young explained his offer. Basically, if they get ten volunteers, they’ll remain behind.

In his speech, he repeats what we know of Destiny’s mission. Over a million years ago, the ancients discovered the fingerprint of an intelligence from very near the beginning of the universe. Destiny was launched to find that intelligence. They didn’t dedicate an entire generation to making this ship on a whim. They saw it as very important.

Of course, this doesn’t explain why the ancients never followed through on this mission. We still don’t know why that was.

If they abandon this ship now, there’ll be no coming back. That knowledge will be lost forever.

And he’s probably right about that. This may be their one and only chance to discover the secrets that Destiny was created to uncover.

Rush can’t do it alone. Despite all of his ego, his belittling of others, and his over-inflated sense of self, Rush needs others. He can’t run the ship single handedly.

So he asks them to stay with him.

Young takes over. He believes those who want to go home deserve that chance. But he joined Stargate Command for a reason. So he is willing to stay aboard with Rush.

And I have to say, this is huge.

This is a huge gesture on Young’s part. Honestly, Rush couldn’t ask more of him.

What Young is asking for is ten volunteers.

Those who want to be here step forward.

And I was shocked to see that the very first to step forward, with almost no hesitation, was Greer.

Even though I’ve seen this episode more than once before, I never remember that detail, until it happens, and am surprised all over again.

But at the same time, I’m not surprised. Because I can really see Greer making this choice. He is loyal and dedicated. At his heart, he’s a good man who wants to do his bit.

Volker also steps forward, giving Brody a little look, as if to say, “you gonna come join me, Mate?”

TJ is next, which is interesting, because she was all set to retire from Stargate Command before she ended up here, but I guess she’s been inspired by her experiences.

Scott doesn’t want to stay. Remember, he’s got a son back on earth.

But when Chloe steps forward, he had no choice but to follow her. That’s the woman he loves, afterall.

Man, I hate the idea of having to choose between your spouse and your child. The difference for Scott is, he doesn’t know his son. But he knows Chloe.

I think Chloe has been deeply impacted by her experience with the blue aliens. I don’t think she’d fit in back on earth very well after all she’s been through. And there’s not really a place for her at the SGC. She worked for her father, the senator.

James also volunteers.

That’s 6 so far.

Then a bunch of extras step forward. At this point, I think they’ve got their ten.

Eli is thinking really hard.

And he starts to move forward.

But Telford has had enough.

He has to speak out against this.

“You’ve already accomplished our mission,” he says. “Our goal was to investigate the ninth chevron address and you’ve done that. I do not deny that there once was a mission, but if it was as important as Rush claims it to be, they sure as hell couldn’t expect us to do it. There is no noble voyage to save the universe or to meet God, or whatever it is that Rush has sold you on. There is only the day that this ship dies.”

I’m not sure why Telford is so against this. Young is still going to allow those who want to go home to do so.

Maybe he genuinely doesn’t want these people to throw away their lives on what he sees as a fool’s errand.

Telford is convinced this mission will end in tragedy and failure.

Young isn’t so sure. “We don’t know that.”

Telford has a mind to try taking them all home by force.

I had a good laugh when Greer said “Good luck with that.” Yeah, my money is on Greer.

It’s funny. Whenever I start watching this show, I find myself not really liking Greer, but by the time I reach this part of the show, I absolutely love the guy. He really grows on you as a character.

So now Telford takes charge for those still taking part in the evacuation. He orders them to form two straight lines.

They’re going home with the clothes on their backs, because, as we learned in the pilot, everything you carry with you becomes a projectile when gating through a nine-chevron address.

Eli has wanted them to expect us but they can’t radio across a wormhole of this distance. Telford is gonna go first, to warn them everyone is coming.

“In fifteen minutes, we go home.”

Rush finishes his story. “And fifteen minutes after that, you were all dead.”

Camille sees this as a second chance. “Tell us what went wrong so we can do it differently this time.”

Eli’s program is based on precise timing, and the required time is fast approaching.

They dialled successfully. They made the connection.

You can feel the excitement as the wormhole engages.

Telford yells “Wait three seconds then follow me,” and he steps through. But just as he does, we see that shimmer effect on the event horizon. We know what that means.

The wormhole is unstable and Eli’s program can’t compensate. Rush is trying to compensate manually. Credit to him, he may want to stay, but he’s doing everything in his power to help those that want to get home to do so.

Rush gets it as good as he can. Young yells for them to go, and they start flooding through the gate.

At some point during all of this, they realise that the ship is overloading. It’s going to explode, just like Icarus did. That means everybody has to go through. Even Rush and Eli. So much for Rush’s dream of staying behind to fulfil the mission. I do feel sorry for him.

Rush holds the wormhole open long enough for Young and Greer to escape. The wormhole disengages. He’s left alone on Destiny.

Rush just stood there waiting for the end to come, but the ship fought to stay alive.

He uses the stones to check in with Stargate Command. He asks how many made it through.

But it was only one. Telford.

Telford, who was so determined to get home, who is now standing back on board Destiny in Rush’s body, waiting for the ship to explode.

So what happened to everyone else who went through the gate?

Young calls off the attempt. And Telford wants to use the stones to confirm Rush’s story with his other self.

So at this point I’m trying to get my head around which form of time travel this story is using.

Traditional time-travel doesn’t cause people to be duplicated. Yes, you can go back in time and meet yourself, but you’re both the same you, just at different points in your timestream.

In that theory of time travel, once Rush convinced Young to call off the attempt, that alternate Rush would cease to exist, because his history has been erased.

What we’re seeing here is two distinct Rush’s with different histories. This is the more modern idea of time travel where an incursion into the past creates a new timeline. A new parallel universe, if you like. That explains the continued existence of two contradictory Rushes and allows for this duplication idea, but if that were the case, then Telford shouldn’t be able to find his other self back on earth, because that Telford is in a different timeline.

Right?

This is where they find the other Destiny, just outside the star.

That’s gotta be weird. It’s almost like looking at their graves.

Eli is feeling very guilty. Everyone on that ship died because of him. His program.

But Chloe says the only reason they’re even in this situation is because they were trying to save her.

That kinda makes sense. It suggests they wouldn’t have tried using Eli and Ginn’s dialling program if the ship wasn’t in such desperate trouble after the battle.

But they would have been in that battle regardless of Chloe. They got in that battle because they wanted to explore a strange reading. Not originally to save Chloe.

Of course, if Chloe hadn’t been modified, she wouldn’t have been able to navigate them there.

But at some point, you’ve got to stop following the blame breadcrumb and just accept what is.

Brody notices something interesting. Most of the damage to the alternate Destiny is confined to one side. That means they could salvage it for spare parts. There’s that redundancy they were wanting.

When I first saw this episode it bugged me. You can’t take parts from the ship to repair itself at a different point in time. It’s all the one ship.

But I was thinking about the traditional version of time travel.

This is the more modern theory of time travel. The moment that ship went back in time, it left the original timeline, and entered our timeline. The timeline of the show. So that timeline now has no Destiny, and our Timeline has two. So, yes, there can be duplication, and you can salvage parts from the other ship.

They’re going to board the other ship using the stargate. We learn here that unlike the gates in the milky way and Pegasus, the Destiny gates are not based on a known physical point of origin. Eli and the two Rushes just need to figure out the distance calculation.

The crew are briefed up on what to look for. The most people they have, the quicker they can get it done.

The two Rushes go over together. It must be weird having another of yourself, with only a few hours of difference in memory. I’m not sure how I’d react to that. Yeah…it would be weird.

But you know they’re going to do something to get rid of one of them by the end of the episode. But hold that thought, because we’ll come back to it.

Eli is really struggling with the guilt. If Rush hadn’t been sent back in time by a freak of physics, they’d all be dead now. Killed by Eli’s program.

That’s got to be hard to take.

You see, for all his faults, Rush is often right.

I like the tension of these scenes. If this was a Voyager episode, they’d probably have introduced some random aliens to add extra danger, but here, the only threat is the clock. And that’s enough, especially as we see the ship slowly exploding as it gets closer and closer to the sun.

One Rush has an idea: Take the weapon batteries. Double Destiny’s firepower. It’s not on the list. But it could be beneficial.

What’s really interesting to me is that Rush and Rush disagree on whether they should take it.

It’s interesting how just an hour or so of peril can change a person’s perspective.

The one who wants to stay and take it is the older of the two, which surprises me. I’d have thought it would be the other way around.

Things take a bit of a darker turn.

Telford doesn’t believe older Rush’s story about what happened in the other timeline. The valiant Rush holding the gate open for everyone else? Yeah right. It wouldn’t be the first time Rush sabotaged something to get his own way and make Telford look stupid.

Telford brings up the first time they tried dialling from inside a star.

Rush sabotaged that attempt. We still don’t know for certain if he was right or wrong to do so, but I think it’s most likely he was right.

What do you think? Who is right here?

I tend to believe Rush, but as Telford points out, nobody else survived to verify his story.

Things get physical.

Rush accuses Telford of being the coward, of not believing in the mission. He got them killed with his insistence on dialling home. Not Rush.

And when Rush pushes Telford, he collides with the live weapon’s battery, nicely foreshadowed earlier. And he dies.

The acting from Robert Carlyle here is brilliant. He really is good at what he does, and is deserving of his star status. Rush didn’t mean to kill Telford, but he just did. And he’s horrified at what happened.

How is he going to explain this?

Oh crap.

So that’s how they deal with the fact that there are now two Telfords in our timeline. They’ve just killed off our Telford. The alternate Telford is back on earth, having made it through the gate.

I thought it was really cool when they brought Telford onto the ship at the end of season 1. It was nice to have him in Destiny with everyone else. And he stuck around for half a season. But we really didn’t see that much of him.

Almost as soon as he was here, he got stranded on the seed ship.

As soon as we get him back, he dies.

I was disappointed by this back in the day, wondering why they did that. But I think it was likely for real world reasons. Lou Diamond Phillips wasn’t a main cast member. He was a semi-regular guest star. I get the impression he was quite a well-known actor outside of Stargate Universe, so he was likely expensive to keep around all the time.

Pity.

Camille has reported to Earth that they’re alive and well. And as soon as alternate Telford heard this, he insisted on using the stones to come to the ship, preferably, replacing himself.

As Camille says, that’s weird.

Our Rush, and Scott find Colonel Telford’s body. It’s a horrible moment for everyone.

Rush thinks he knows where the other Rush is. He runs off to…do something.

Young orders Scott to let him go. They only have a few minutes left.

Alternate Rush explains it was an accident. Our Rush believes him, but warns that the others won’t.

Our Rush asks the alternate what really happens. He simply replies “I told you what happened.” He’s got no reason to lie, so I assume he was probably being truthful. But who really knows with Rush.

So where did Rush go? The chair room. He figures he's got nothing left to live for at this point. He might as well sit in the ancient chair and see what he can learn.

This makes a lot of sense. This is a very Rush thing to do.

So alternate Rush sits, and our Rush activates the chair for him.,

What he experiences, what he learns, we may never know.

But he is engulfed in smoke. Kinda like Franklin was.

But whatever he might become gets swallowed as the alternate destiny explodes in the star.

Our Rush makes it through.

You can tell by their facial expressions that Young, Eli and Camille have suspicions. Did Rush do something to Telford so they could continue with the mission? Has he done anything bad during this ordeal to ruin their chances?

From what I’ve seen, no, he hasn’t. Not our Rush. The other Rush killed Telford, but it WAS an accident.

But Young has many historical reasons to doubt Rush.

The way they got rid of alternate Rush in this episode made a lot of sense. It was a good way to go, from his perspective.

But you remember how I said we knew they’d find some way to get rid of him so we wouldn’t have two Rushes?

What if they hadn’t?

What if they’d kept him around for a while and there were literally two Rushes walking around the ship? Can you imagine?

Farscape did this. Two exact versions of one of the characters. Absolutely no sense that one was more real than the other. They were both completely real and equal. And that show did some amazing stuff with the concept.

I think there could have been some interesting drama that SGU could have milked out of the similar situation with Rush.

What they did was fine, but I still wonder about what could have been.

So that episode was a lot better than I remembered. Some great stuff, and it will definitely have an impact later in the season.

Next time, Camilla and Greer are gonna get stuck in the middle of an alien attack on earth as the Lucian Alliance finally make their move.

I’ll see you then for the episode Alliances.

Until then, have a great two weeks

Live long and prosper

Make it so.

The second half of Stargate Universe season 2 begins with "Deliverence". We see the fulfilment of the Chloe transformation story, and possibly the end of the blue aliens, and the resolution of the battle with the drone ships. But is it over? We'll be seeing the consequences of this encounter for some time.

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Welcome to Nerd Heaven

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a nerd

This is episode 82 of the podcast.

Today, we’re talking about the Stargate Universe episode Deliverance.

The description on Gateworld reads

With Destiny up against a fleet of drones, the crew is surprised by the arrival of an old foe. Chloe faces her former captors when the crew decide to hand her over.

This episode was written by Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie

It was directed by Peter DeLuise

And it first aired on the 7th of March 2011

So this episode was the first to air after the mid-season break.

That means, we have a new prologue recap thing. And this will be the last variation we’ll see.

This one starts very dramatically with booming drums and rapid shots of our characters. The clips focus on Rush’s discovery of Destiny’s mission, and his choice to keep that knowledge from the crew, as well as Young’s self-doubt about his ability to command, and Scott’s faith in him. Finally, it addresses the planned Lucian Alliance attack on earth and the tension between getting home and fulfilling Destiny’s mission.

So we left off last episode with Destiny geting pummeled by the alien drone fighters, almost sure to be destroyed, and Chloe, not quite herself, rampaged through the ship to the control room, where she did something. We don’t know what.

Greer rushes in, along with some othe soldiers. He points his gun at Chloe and tells her to stand down. Is this is? Is this where he’s going to have to kill her? That’s the moment he’s been dreading.

Chloe explains to Scott what she did. She sent a message. The blue aliens, the ones who captured and modified her, they followed Destiny to this galaxy, and they’ve been searching for our heroes ever since. Now they know where we are.

And they sure can fly fasat. They arrive almost immediately.

Greer said she sold them out. He says he knew it was going to come down to him and her. But Chloe says “It’s not time yet. I’m still in control. I did this to help us.”

The drone ships will attack anything. They don’t discriminate, so half of them have gone to fight the blue aliens. That means Destiny might be able to hold them off.

They can’t jump away to safety without an FTL drive. It seems the best option might still be to follow the plan of attacking the command ship. If they can disrupt the subspace signal between it and the drones, it might be enough.

The big question remains, were Chloe’s actions a good or bad thing?

For the moment, it seems it has given Destiny a fighting chance.

But … what will come later, should they survive?

They succeed in destroying the command ship and the drones are all dormant.

Great.

Two of the blue alien ships were destroyed. The other is just sitting there, probably just as damaged as destiny.

The ship’s in bad shape. Not only do they still need to get FTL working again, but several of their shield emitters are gone. Without full shield coverage, they can’t jump.

Volker and Brody are on the job.

Rush says that just because he took a pragmatic approach to Chloe’s transformation, it doesn’t mean he didn’t care for her. If he could have prevented it, he would have.

I wonder if that’s true. Knowing what she would become, knowing she’d be able to crack the equations. And he could have prevented her transformation, would he really have done so? I don’t know.

The ursini sent a message to their homeworld after the command ship was destroyed. The response came back from another command ship. Their homeworld has fallen to the drones. The Ursini on the seed ship are probably the last of their kind.

And that’s really sad.

But there’s a bigger problem. When they sent the signal, they gave their position away. That means there are more drones on the way.

The FTL drive is fixed, but the repairs to the shield are not going well.

The ursini believe the race that created the drones died out a long time ago.

What I’d give to learn more about them. I wonder if they were destroyed by their own drones? That’s a story that’s been done before.

Because these things are machines, there is no negotiating with them. They have simple programming, find alien technology and destroy it.

Eli has an interesting idea. Right now, the drones are dormant and harmless. This would be a good time to bring one on board and study it.

Park is coming along for the ride. I think this might be her first away mission.

She seems to be feeling a mixture of excitement and nervousness.

They need Chloe’s help but she’s escorted under multiple armed guards. It turns out she broke Corporal Bear’s arm.

Park is definitely nervous about her spacewalk. Greer encourages her to breath normally.

They’ve got the drone but the surviving alien ship, the blue aliens, has parked itself right next to the shuttle.

When Scott tries backing away, the send a message. No Escape.

Both ships are heavily damaged. Neither has FTL capability. And more drones are coming.

These two long-term enemies are going to have to trust each other and work together if anyone is to be able to survive the rest of this day.

Rush comes up with a controversial idea.

Give them Chloe as a sign of good faith.

There is nothing more medically we can do for her. If anyone can help her, it’s them.

It’s a risk, given how much she knows about Destiny.

Young is not going to force Chloe to go, but if she doesn’t he’ll probably end up putting her off the ship at the next habitable planet. He can’t afford to keep her on board much longer.

TJ feels awful. She wishes they could have done more for her. But she just doesn’t have the knowledge or ability.

Scott is skeptical that the aliens will really help Chloe or keep up any of their side of the bargain, but he follows orders.

Chloe isn’t sure about going to the aliens. She’s been on their ship before. It’s not pleasant.

It’s nice to see Young and Telford getting along so well nowadays. For that matter, he and Rush are getting along as well.

The conflict between them is largly a thing of the past in this last half season of the show. I find this refreshing. Which is not to say I didn’t want them to have done the conflict, but I appreciate the growth.

Now apparently, part of this deal is that the aliens will heal Chloe of her modification and return her? Rush isn’t worried about what information they get about Destiny from her, because without her, they’ll be unlikely to be able to track Destiny again.

I’m really not sure why they’d take deal. I mean, they modified Chloe for a reason. We still don’t know what that reason is, but they had to have had a plan. So the’ll be pretty unlikely to want to just undo it.

Camille comments that if she didn’t know better, she’d think he was willing to risk the ship for one person, that person presumably being Chloe. He seems a little offended by this and says “That’s the problem. You don’t know any better.”

So is he saying she doesn’t understand his reasons for his opinions, or is he saying that he really does care about Chloe, and is willing to risk the ship for her, and Camille doesn’t know him well enough to believe that? I’m not 100% sure.

So they escort Chloe down the cooridor. Young and Greer. And it’s kind of like a dead-man walking situation, as somebody is taken to their death.

Chloe gives Young a kiss goodbye on his cheek. It’s a nice little touch. Young is probably the closest thing she has to a father figure since her father died.

How doe you study something like this alien drone? Brody and Volker are hesitant to open it. It could be dangerous, but Eli points out if they don’t open it, they can’t study it. Honestly, if they’re that worried, they shouldn’t have brought it on board. They could have tried studying it in the shuttle. That would then minimise the number of people put at risk.

Scott is flying the shuttle with Chloe on board as passenger. The docking bay opens and allows them in.

Scott and Chloe have a tender goodbye in the shuttle before the aliens open the door. It’s a decent scene. But I’m really not sure what I’m supposed to feel.

Is this supposed to be a final goodbye? If so, they’re handling it way better than they should. Especially Scott.

If they’re expecting Chloe to be healed and come back, then shouldn’t that be a happy thing, something to look forward to?

I guess they just don’t trust the aliens. 

Chloe does make a good observation. Her time on Destiny has been hard, but some of it has been amazing. Scott has been one of those brights spots for her, but there have been others. Exploring alien planets, seeing amazing wonders, forming close bonds with the others on the ship.

As the door opens, I’m reminded of how much I love their design. They are really cool aliens. They just look so different, so other. If Chloe is going to spend the rest of whatever life she has left with them, it’s going to be pretty horrible. For the simple fact that these beings are just so different to her, she’ll never be able to relate to them. Humans with bumps, they are not.

So far Eli, Volker and Brody have managed to crack the machine code of the alien drone, but they haven’t been able to decipher it’s programming yet, specifically, where to find the subroutine that deals with communication between the drone and the command ship.

I have to say, that’s astounding. That you could map out and reverse engineer the machine code of a completely alien device like this in a few hours. That’s insane.

Rush is right when he says good job, this is excellent work. It is. It’s nothing short of staggering.

But, of course, he’s just trying to get rid of them as politely as possible, because they’ll just get in the way of him and Eli doing the real work.

I’ve got to hand it to Rush. He’s come a way. In early season 1, he’d rudley tell them to get out because they’re too stupid to be of any use. But now, well, he flatters them, he patronizes them, in the hope that they’ll take it as a complement and be more compliant. I guess from his perspective, he’s realised that this is a more efficient approach.

They’ve got their work cut out for them. Trying to make sense of a program when all you’ve got to look at is the machine code would be very challenging. And that’s if the machine code was developed in a human mind.

Honestly, I’m really not clear on this deal with the blue aliens. On Destiny’s side, what we get out of it, seems to be that they allowed us to take the drone on board to study.

What they’re getting out of it is Chloe.

But for reasons that still are not clear to me, they’re expecting the aliens to reverse her transformation and return her. I still don’t really understand what they are expecting this. If they do that, then what are the blue aliens getting out of this deal? Nothing.

Scott is in the shuttle. Waiting. He’s still expecting Chloe to be returned to him. He’s not leaving without her. And, interestingly, they haven’t sent him on his way. He’s still in their hanger bay.

The aliens are doing some kind of medical procedure on Chloe. This scene is pretty terrifying. It evokes every alien abduction story you’ve ever seen. Being tied to a bed while bizarre creatures poke and prod you with sharp implements. 

Were I in Chloe’s shoes, I’d be terrified, which she is. It’s impressive how much fear an actor can evoke just with their eyes and their breathing.

Anyway, this was an awesome scene.

Ther second command ship has arrived, surrounded by new drones.

That’s not good.

The old drones are still dormant. That’s interesting. That means they’re not taking orders from the new command ship. They seem to be coded to respons to a specific command ship.

Again, why would their creators have used such an inefficient design?

Rush can jam the signal between drone and command ship for a few seconds, but after that, they’ll adapt.

Young is sitting in the captain’s chair on the bridge. This may be his first time ever commanding a starship, but I guess there’s a first time for everyone. When the SGC first created the Prometheus, somebody had to command it for the first time. No human had ever commanded a starship before that.

But it’s even harder for Lieutenant James. She seems to be stationed at the engineering console. Her job is to keep vital systems protected and powered. She’s had about one hour of training. Simulated. None of our people know how to operate this ship, and now they’re heading into a combat situation.

The sheer lack of familiarity with the ship is what gives Stargate Universe such a unique flavour. And I love it.

Telford is on weapons.

Just a Scott hoped, Chloe is returned to the shuttle, held suspecnded in the air by a tractor beam which disengages when he grabs her.

She doesn’t seem to be showing any sign of the crusty alien skin. Certainly it’s no longer visible on her chest.

When Scott exists the alien ship, he notices the drones and wants to take them on. Young orders him to keep a distance. They’re not here to fight, just hold out until they can jump.

Scott disobeys that order.

He does have a valid pointg to raise. His shuttle has full shields. Destiny does not.

And it’s probably proper for him to raise that with Young. But it’s not sufficient cause to outright disobey an order. He just says “don’t worry, we’ll be fine.” He doesn’t wait for Young to give a response to his point.

Stargate characters have a bit of a reputation for not always following orders, but I’m surprised by this, especially in a show as grounded as Stargate Universe.

Things are getting critical. Whatever Rush is gonna do, he’s gonna have to do it soon.

And Eli has a great idea. He’;s found the friend or foe system. The older drones are not engaging in the battle because they don’t have a command ship to tell them what side they should be on. 

The plan is to tell them to attack the newer drones and its command ship.

But in order to upload that instruction, they’ll have to power up the drone they have in the lab.

This is a good plan. I know I’m giving the show a hard time about the characters drcyphering alien programming languages with such ease, but I understand you have to give your characters a break so the story can happen.

My nature as a software engineer is at odds with my nature as a writer.

This is why I don’t often enjoy “computer shows”. And why many medical people can’t watch medical dramas.

Young orders Scott to pull out of the area, adding the word “that’s a direct order” and this time he obeys.

The Ursini, grieving that their people are gone, and they are the last of their kind, and feeling sorry for getting Destiny involved in all of this, begin a suicide run against the second command ship.

They ram the seed ship into the rcommand ship.

But Young still tells Rush to enact his plan, so,  I assume they failed to destroy the command ship? That’s sad. So the Ursini sacrificed themselves for literally nothing.

Once activated, the drone floats above the table but seems to take no other hostile action. Greer is there with a gun pointed at it, not that he’d be able to do much, but in his words, he’s sure gonna try.

And the dormant drones wake upland join the fight. Fantastic.

Brody and Volker have managed to get the shields fully covering Destiny, but due to all the weapons fire they’ve sustained, the shields are only at 5 percent. They’ve never attempting jumping at anything less than 10%.

Eli doesn’t think that’s enough.

They’re gonna have to risk it. The drones on our side are vastly outnumbered by the drones attacking us. The shuttle is docked.

It’s now or never if they want to jump away.

They jump

The ship is shaking a lot, but it holds together.

TJ has been examining Chloe. It appears she is fully restored and healed. No lesions, No blackouts.

Young is gonna keep her under observation for a while just in case.

A surprising thing, Chloe can still do the equations. She has retained the knowledge she had when she was undergoing the transformation. That means they’ll be able to continue setting the ship’s course when necessary.

Then Rush makes some startling admissions. He says everyone on board is useful. Not just those who can do drive calculations. Everyone on board belongs.

That doesn’t sound like Rush at all. When Chloe questions if he really believes it, he says “more and more each day.”

So it seems that Rush really is going through some changes. He’s opening up to the possibility of seeing meaning behind events.

With Rush, it’s never easy to tell when he’s being honest and when he’s lying, but this feels like some interesting character development. And my memory is that he does change and slowly head toward becoming a better person in the second half of season 2.

So, it’ll be interesting to see how this progresses.

There’s a lot to like in these last two episodes, and I really enjoy them. Not just for what they are, but for what they’re setting up.

But I have to admit, I found the resolution of Chloe’s transformation very un-satisfying.

I was looking forward to understanding what was happening to her. What was she becoming, and why. What was the plan behind it all.

I couldn’t actually remember how it was resolved, from the last couple of times I watched through this show.

We never got any of those answers, and I’m still not sold on the alien’s motivation for just undoing all their hard work.

Sure, they may have gotten some information from her, but that seems minor. We know they’ve explored Destiny in the past. They’ve been studying it for a long time before our people showed up.

They had some kind of plan for Chloe, but it all seems to have come to nothing.

So I’m a little disappointed with that.

I don’t remember being so disappointed last time. Maybe it’s because I’m watching these shows with a slightly more critical eye in order to do this podcast.

But Gatworld collects production notes in each episode. I had a look and found a quote from  Joseph Mallozzi’s blog.

Check this out.

"The [aliens'] plan was to eventually use [Chloe] to amass as much information about the Destiny's systems as possible and then, eventually, use her to gain access to the ship. They implanted her with an alien virus that slowly mutated, taking over her mind and body and acting as an organic satellite. Once the mutation was complete, she would have been entirely under their control."

The aliens eventually left Destiny in peace "because they had retrieved all the information they needed from Chloe when they divested her of the alien virus."

Okay. So that makes some sense of it. The virus was intended to put Chloe under their control. They had two goals for this. The first was information. They have successfully retrieved that. The second was control. They had hoped that Chloe, their agent on board, could have taken control of the ship and delivered it to them.

It seems they have sacrificed that second goal. They probably wouldn’t have survived the second drone assault without the help of the humans, so they cut their losses, took the information and removed the virus, thus destroying all hope of using Chloe to get control of the ship. They returned her, as Rush predicted, because she was no longer of any value to them, but the human’s cooperation was of value.

Mallozzi’s words above suggest the aliens are done with Destiny now.  what they really wanted was the knowledge, not the ship itself. Of course, Chloe’s impression is that they won’t give up. That information is only going to make them hungrier to take the ship.

Honestly, we don’t know where the writers would have taken all of this, had the show continued for more than two seasons, so we’ve got to give it some grace.

I just feel that all of this could have been explained a little better in the episode.

But, that’s a nitpick.

As I said, I did love these episodes.

Next time, we’ll be talking about a very famous and  iconic episode, Twim Destinies. This is a favourite among a lot of fans. I don’t remember loving it as much as others did, but having thought about the concepts behind it a bit more, I suspect I’ll be able to enjoy it more this time. But I’ll get into that next time.

Have a great two weeks

Live long and prosper

Make it so.

We've made it to the mid-season finale for season 2. This one will leave us on a bit of a cliffhanger. The discovery of a mysterious alien signal will take the crew of Destiny a little off course and introduce a brand new and terrifying threat that will cause them a whole lot of problems for the rest of the season. Plus, things are coming to a head with Chloe.

Join me for the excitement as we talk about Stargate Universe "Resurgence".

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Welcome to Nerd Heaven

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a nerd

This is episode 81 of the podcast.

Today, we’re talking about the Stargate Universe episode “Resurgence”

The description on Gateworld reads

The crew's new-found control over Destiny's flight path introduces new risks when they find themselves in the middle of a war between two races.

This episode was written by Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie

It was directed by William Waring

And it forest aired on the 30th of November 2010

Eli hasn’t shown up for work on the bridge yet. He is, no doubt, still dealing with his grief over the death of Ginn, which is completely understandable.

Rush gives the appearance of someone who is coping better. He’s back to work, focusing on what needs to be done. He got his closure when he killed Simeon. Does that meaning he’s feeling less grief than Eli right now? Probably not. He just handled it differently.

The crew are struggling to understand how to operate the ship’s controls. Rush has a better handle on it all, but then he’s had quite a head-start.

Brody has found something. An energy signature.

Investigating it would take destiny about a day’s detour from its predfefined course, following the seed ships.

They debate the pros and cons, but eventually decide it’s worth checking out. It could be a sign of intelligent life.

Interestingly, Volker, Park, and Rush all agree on that, but while Rush and Park think that’s a pro, Volker sees it as a con.

I love the exchange where Park says “you can’t judge a neighbourhood by a few bad neighbours”. And Volker says “You’re kidding, right. That’s exactly how you judge a neighbourhood.”

They’re both right. A neighbourhood gets a bad reputation because it has a number of bad elements in it, but that doesn’t mean that everybody in that neighbourhood is bad.

But, Destiny’s track record of encountering alien life hasn’t exactly been very positive.

Also, note, they still can’t quite figure how how to change the ship’s course without Chloe to do the calculations.

When they’re about to drop out of FTL to see the answers, Eli has to be fetched by Rush, but when that happens, he does come. He’s not completely locked himself away from life, but he definitely doesn’t have the drive and enthusiasm for his work that he used to.

What they find is a massive graveyard of spaceships. The sight of a great battle some time in history. How fascinating.

One of the ships is familiar. The ship that Rush and Young explored a few episodes back. It looks like that particular species were the losers in the battle.

Scott and Chloe are still having the same conversation. He alien transformation is spreading. Soon she wont be herself anymore, but something dangerous that has to be removed. Scott won’t let that happen, but what can he possibly do to stop it?

I can understand Chloe’s perspective, but I can really identify with Scott. If it were my wife there, I’d never give up on her. Even though there seems to be no possible solution.

But even he has to acknowledge that he has been pulling away from her. It’s been happening for some time. We first noticed it in Cloverdale.

I love how they’re continuing to develop this over multiple episodes. This is exactly the kind of thing I wished they would have done in Star Trek Voyager. If this had been a Voyager episode, Chloe would have been infected, at the star of an episode, the drama would all occur in a short amount of time, and it would all get resolved by the end of that same episode.

But this began all the way back in the middle of season 1. We’re now approaching the middle of season 2. I love this approach to story-telling, and I’m glad that it has become the norm. This is the kind of character-serialisation I’m hoping to see in Star Trek Strange new Worlds later this year, even though the plots will be standalone planet-of-the-week type stories.

Anyway, Chloe is putting on a strong face for Matt, but after she leaves, she breaks down and cries. She doesn’t want to die. And she doesn’t want to cause Matt pain, either.

Camille has pulled Eli aside to talk to him. 

Before she can say anything, he launches into a defense. He’s not crazy. He’s come a long way in his 10 months aboard this ship. Once minute he was living at home with his mum, and the next, he’s stranded billions of lightyears from home. Unlike everybody else, he had no training and no preparation. He wasn’t even really given a choice. Jack had him beamed aboard the Hammond after he refused to get involved. Admittedly, once he was beamed up he went willingly to Icarus.

The point is, he’s done remarkably well, all things considered. And he’s absolutely right about that. Good on him, I say. Apart from all of that, someone he really cared for died.

Also, I love the Last Starfighter reference.

Turns out, they’re not worried because he’s a little distracted. They’re worried because given recent events, he should be a hell of a lot more than a little distracted.

Surprisingly, they start talking about Riley, not Ginn.

That loss is affecting him quite profoundly. Eli says something very meaningful. When your whole world gets reduced to about a hundred people, everyone becomes important.

Funnily, a hundred people sounds like a lot to me.

If I were to try to count the number of people I have a meaningful connection to, it would probably be a lot less than a hundred. But then, I’m an introverted hermit who talks to a camera instead of interacting with humans, so there’s that.

I really like how they spend time on Riley here. Once again, giving importance and significance to his death. He was no red-shirt, in the traditional Star Trek sense. Every life in this ship matters to the characters, even if that person doesn’t get their name in the opening credits of this show. In universe, they matter.

When Camille mentions Ginn, Eli’s face hardens, as if to say, “how dare you mention her name.” And then just walks away.

There’s a hell of a lot of hurt there, and he’s not remotely ready to talk about that.

This was a wonderful character scene. I loved it.

Until recently, they only had two working space suits. Brody just finished repairing a third, which Greer is wearing. He half-jokingly raises concern that he’s wearing the recently repaired suit, and brody replies, “easier to fix if something goes wrong, which it won’t, in all likelihood.”

Now this adds a little humour to the scene but it actually makes complete and perfect sense. 

Better off having the repair guy wear the better suit because if there is a problem, he’s not compromised, and has the highest chance of fixing it. I can understand Greer’s discomfort, but Brody is right.

This is just more of the slow burn of them getting more and more of the ship and its technology undert their control.

This is their first time taking the newly restored shuttle out.

Brody remarks how weird it is to be flying amongst a fleet of damaged alien spaceships, but Greer just thinks it’s cool. I’d think it was cool too, but I’d also be feeling the awe, which I think is what Brody is trying to express.

As they fly past, one of the alien ships powers upo.

There is one particular ship the shuttle is heading toward, with the intention of boarding it.

I imagine this is the ship of the type Young and Rush explored earlier. I’m not entirely sure why they chose this particular ship. They’ve already seen one of these. Why not investigate one of the other ships, from whatever other race was involved in this battle?

The transfer from one ship to the other isn’t exactly smooth. Greer has to float through space.

In most sci-fi shows, every spaceship out there, even from races never encountered before, always have compatible docking ports, as if there is some universal standard that everyone knows about. And I’ll put my hand up and admit I’ve done this in my own writing.

This is a bit more realistic.

Varro, the leader of the remaining Lucian Alliance, is confined to quarters. Not because of anything he did, but because he didn’t sufficiently warn the crew of how unstable Simeon was. He thought he could control him. He was wrong.

It seems there is a bit of a friendship between Varro and TJ.

They talk about TJ’s recent revelation that the people who came back from Eden didn’t have her child.

She has accepted that she was misled by the ship.

Varro seems to be holding onto the possibility that there might be some other explanation.

That’s when TJ noticed something out the window. The powered ship.

Destiny has analysed the debris and figured out what pieces go together to make up the various spaceships. The destroyed ships, those are the ones we’ve encountered before. The others, they’re not destroyed. They’re just dormant. Perhaps they were drone ships that shut down after they’d accomplished their instructions. And that’s the ship that powered up, which TJ saw.

Eli says they have to get out of there right now, which is probably a good idea.,

Young recalls the away team.

The alien drone ships are waking up en masse now. They’re zipping around.

Young prepares to fire weapons. But he also asks Eli to send a message in whatever languages he can, explaining that Destiny is not a threat.

This is an exciting scene. Stargate Universe has a good balance between science fiction and character drama. I’ve encountered detractors who have said SGU is not science fiction, it’s just a soap opera. That is so not the case. If anything, I’d say that this show is the most genuine science fiction, in the truest sense of the term, than anything else in the franchise.

So we’re treated to a space battle as these alien fighters zip around Destiny.

Typical Rush wants to jump away without the shuttle. Ever the cold hard pragmatist.

Things are looking bad. The FTL drive has been damaged and weapons are failing.

The next thing that happs is a big surprise.

An ancient seed ship drops out of FTL, and Destiny is hailed by our old friend David Telford. Remember, he was left behind on the seed ship earlier this season.

So…in a sense, Rush was right. If the seed ship hadn’t shown up, they’d all be dead now.

Telford seems to know what he’s doing. Both ancient ships head into the star, pursued by the alien drones. Destiny and the seed ship are designed to enter a star. That’s how they rechard.

The alien ships are not, and they burnt up.

It bought them some time, but there are other drone ships still out there, and they just have to fly around the star.

But apparently, it’s gonna take a lot longer than I imagine  for that to happen. The two ships dock.

Telford tells his story of what’s happened since we last saw him.

It turns out, the aliens that had boarded the seed ship were not hostile, just desperate.

Telford was at their mercy, but they didn’t harm him. They were curious.

Communication proved difficult. Their stasis pods have a neural interface to keep the mind occupied while the body sleeps. That concept has been done in sci-fi before. Voyager comes to mind. Anyway, Telford saw a whole lot of images. Some of it were clear. Telford was able to form an understanding of the aliens and their history.

They call themselves the Ursini.

They began to trust him. They worked together to get the seed ship online. They’ve been chasing Destiny ever since. Telford got nutrition from the alien pods.

And the Ursini need Destiny’s help.

A long time ago, the Ursini made the same mistake as our crew. They woke the alien drone ships. They had hoped the seed ship would give them an edge in their conflict.

Does that mean that the destroyed ships, including the one Young and Rush explored a few erpisodes back, are Ursini ships?

They were left behind by their own people and so went into stasis on the seed ship until Destiny showed up. They drained power from Destiny because they wanted to go home.

They don’t want to communicate with their homeworld until they’re sure that the drone threat is over.

The Ursini still have a working FTL drive. With the two ships docked, they could jump, and Destiny will come along for the ride, but the Ursini want our help. The drones are all controlled by a command ship. That ship is out of sublight range. They’d have to jump to its location and destroy it. That would make the drones inert. In theory.

This is a common sci-fi trope that doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Why not give each drone its own CPU. I mean, the computing power necessary to program these things is currently sitting in my pocket. There’s no reason to centralise things like this. It makes them vulnerable.

Star Wars episode 1 did this with the battle droids. When the command ship in orbit blew up, the drones just shut down. That is so silly.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand the value of cloud computing, but even now, we can build software that will continue to operate after it’s connection to the cloud is lost.

I’m sure we can invent some head-canon to explain why this is the way it is, but the real reason, of course, is because this silly vulnerability gives our heroes a fighting chance.

Rush thinks we should double-cross the Ursini. Get them to take us some place safe for repairs first. Play for time until we get our own FTL drive working, then say “see ya mate” and leave them without giving the help they need.

Both Camille and Young think this is a terrible idea, and I agree. The Ursini are the first potential allies our heroes have encountered out here. Why make them an enemy unnecessarily. Plus, the Ursini may hold the key to getting back to Earth some day, by combining the power of the seed ship with Destiny.

But there’s another reason as well. What if there are more drone ships out there. Taking out that command ship is a much better idea than leaving it, and becoming enemies with both sides of this alien conflict.

For such a smart person, Rush can be pretty dumb sometimes. And sadly lacking in compassion. I can’t help but wonder if he has an actual psychological coindition that makes it hard or impossible for him to feel compassion or empathy for others. Maybe, or maybe, deep down, he’s a bit of a jerk.

The thing is, the show has made us feel compassion and empathy for him at times. He’s had a hard life. That’s probably part of it too. And that’s what make us continue to somewhat like him as a charcter, even though he’s so unlikable.

Now despite all that stuff I just said about Rush having no compassion and empathy, he’s the one who is going to try to counsel Eli, who is continuing to make little mistakes.

Rush and Eli are in a very similar situation. They both lost somebody they loved that day. They both failed to save Amanda and Ginn.

Rush actually does a decent job. Partly, it’s because of that shared experience. Rush is able to describe exactly what Eli is feeling becauise he’s feeling the same. And he can tell Eli from personal experience, that getting revenge wouldn’t have helped one bit. He’d still be getting up in the morning, and she’d still be dead.

Then Rush says something interesting.

We’re taught from a young age that everybody is equal, but that’s a lie. Some people are better. It’s those who recognsie  they are better, and learn to exploit it, who succeed.

He says Eli is one of those people, but the only way to achieve his potential is to make sure he doesn’t get beaten down. That’s why keeps Rush going.

This is interesting, and it might even be what Eli needs to hear right now, but I don’t agree with Rush.

I’ll admit that we don’t all have equal abilities. Some people are especially gifted, far beyond the rest of us. But I believe all human beings have equal value. Equal worth.

Telford has negotiated an agreement with the Ursini. We are going to go on a joint mission.

In theory, this jump will be no different than the shuttle jumping with destiny, because it’s attached. But the shuttle is small and was designed to do that. While destiny is significantly bigger than the seed ship.

They keep mentioning that it’s dangerous to jump within 4 hours of exiting FTL. And we’re still in that 3 hour danger window.

To my knowledge, they’ve never given a good explaination why this is a thing. Just another rule they invented for narrative reasons.

Luckily, the jumps works successfully.

Eli goes to share the good news with Chloe, and there’s one element of the agreement that hasn’t been mentioned yet. After the mission is over, the Ursini will help Destiny dial Earth.

But something is wrong with Chloe.

She’s unrespoonsive.

And something else is wrong.

They drop out of FTL early. They’ve arrived at the command ship.

Seems that Rush wasn’t the only one wanting to double-cross. The Ursini have forced our hand. No time to repair Destiny. Destroy the command ship now!

But what choice do they have? They engage the enemy.

Unfortunately, the command ship is guarded by a bunch of drone fighters.

Chloe suddenly wakes up and asks Eli to let her help.

She is REALLY not herself. She expertly takes out the guard who incists on talking to Young first.

If I were Eli, I’d be pretty scared right now. Scared that Chloe’s transformation into “something dangerous” is complete.

But maybe she can help them.

Brody seals off that section of the ship to contain Chloe

Meanwhile, the battle is not going well. They can’t get near the command ship.

Chloe gets through the locked doors. That alien knowledge inside of her is making her very capable.

I love the combination of the tensio with the battle at the same time as the tension inside the ship. The tension inside is even more powerful because it involves a charfacter we care about. So there is more emotional impact.

And Varro has a chance to help TJ.

Chloe is doing something at a console.

Whatever it is she’s done, it’s over.

It’s too late for Matt to stop her.

Let’s hope he doesn’t have to be the one to take her down. He’d never be able to forgive himself.

And them as Destiny continues to be pummeled by alien drones, the episode ends.

I do love serialised story-telling.

It turns out, this was actually a mid-season cliffhanger. That’s a big thing in American TV. Possibly because they need time to finish making the later episodes of a season. It’s never really been a thing in Australian TV, but one of the side-effects of getting shows at the same time as the US these days, is that we’re exposed to the oddities of American TV scheduling.

This was a fantastic episode. Some great action sequences, lots of aliens, some fantastic character moments, and even some humour that came naturally out of the characters, so it didn’t pull me out of the story.

We’ll have to wait until next time to see what happens next. It’ll be pretty exciting. The episode will be called Deliverance.

There’s some truly great stuff ahead of us. The sad thing is, we only have half a season left and then we’ll be finished Stargate Universe.

We’d best enjoy it while we can.

Incidentally, I do have some exciting ideas about what we’ll cover next once Stargate Universe is over. I might share some of that later.

But for now

Have a great two weeks

Live long and prosper

Make it so.

This one is certainly a dark and depressing episode, but does that make it bad? If you're at all familiar with me, you'll know what I think. Join me as we dig into "Visitation" a very emotional episode of Stargate Universe.

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Welcome to Nerd Heaven.

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a Nerd.

This is episode 80 of the podcast. Today, we’re talking about the Stargate Universe episode, “Visitation.”

The description on Gateworld reads

Members of the crew left behind in another galaxy make a shocking return to Destiny, while Chloe deals with the inevitable consequences of her transformation.

This episode was written by Rémi Aubuchon

It was directed by William Waring

And it first aired on the 23rd of November 2010.

In a recent episode, Young pointed out they didn’t have any shuttles. I was confused by this. One shuttle was destroyed, but they had gotten the second shuttle working, right?

The recap of today’s episode reminded me that Young left the damages shuttle behind on the faith planet for use by the people who stayed behind. So….Oops. I forgot about that.

While Brody repairs the still, Rush is trying to explain the message in the cosmic background radiation to people who have absolutely no idea what he’s talking about. To them, and to me, it looks like an animated screensaver.

So Destiny drops out of FTL and they see a Destiny-style shuttle. It looks like the one they left behind. It’s just floating in space next to them. Interesting.

They get a message. It comes from Doctor Cain. They fell asleep on the faith planet last night. They woke up here. They have no idea how.

Re-watching this episode, I didn’t actually remember this, so I was filled with the same sense of wonder and questioning that I had the first time I watched it.

And this really is intriguing.

Young is concerned that it might not actually be our people. Could it be a trojan horse, to get inside Destiny’s defences? Rush makes a very good point. With any beings that could do this, defences are meaningless.

There is one advantage of all this, though. It would be nice to have a working shuttle again.

The first thing that TJ thinks about when she hears about what’s happened, is her daughter. Young is convinced that what TJ experienced was a simulation, much like what he went through recently. A false experience placed into her mind.

And that is definitely plausible. It even explains the whole Nebula thing, that TJ couldn’t possibly have known about until she saw it, but Destiny would have known it was coming up. The ship could have placed the image of that nebula in her mind. But to what end? If it was just a simulation, what was the ship trying to achieve? Maybe giving hope to the only doctor the crew had?

Young sounds a sobering caution. Nobody mentioned a child. He doesn’t want TJ to get her hopes up, but she has to know.

The shuttle docks and the crew come aboard. It’s all their old friends from the Faith planet.

Young’s not taking this lightly. They’re expected to exit the shuttle one person at a time.

They will be escorted to a holding area.

None of them are carrying a child. There is no sign of a child on the shuttle.

Young asks TJ if she’s all right. She replies, “I’m fine.”

Honestly, I don’t know why she’s pretending. I sure as hell wouldn't be.

Eli is recording a diary entry on the Kino. Not only is he still grieving the loss of Ginn, but he’s losing Chloe. She continues to transform and there’s nothing any of them can do about it.

Scott visits her to give her the news about the arrivals.

Chloe is not even sure she wants to fight her transformation anymore. What’s happening will happen. She’s not afraid of it anymore.

Cain says they were sleeping in the shuttle, using it as a shelter from the cold during the winter. So, the log cabin that TJ saw in her vision wasn’t real? All the evidence is supporting Young’s theory that it was just a simulation.

Cain seems convinced that if not the aliens, then God himself has brought the shuttle here.

Eli turns the mike off, and argues against this, using that familiar Arthur C. Clarke quote.

Given the trembling in his voice, I’d say there’s a lot more going on here than simple philosophical disagreements. This is emotional. This is personal. Ginn didn’t get her miracle. It doesn’t look like Chloe is going to get hers either. So why should he believe in such things?

I did chuckle when Young said “Turn the microphone back on. Winston Churchill”

The shuttle was barely working when they left it on the planet. But now, it’s in perfect working order. It’s like brand new. Brody even jokes that it has that new shuttle smell.

So far, no ticking time bombs have been found. Nothing that could be a threat.

Even though Cain talked about using the shuttle for shelter, they seem to have amnesia, remembering nothing about the planet. At least, very little. So…that leaves a small sliver of hope that maybe the child was there and they just don’t remember it.

Cain claims the amnesia is a sign from God that they have been reborn.

Cain is a little frustrating, the way he jumps to so many conclusions. I don’t think he’s a very good representation of people of faith.

The others think the aliens that built the planet discovered them and returned them to Destiny as an act of benevolence. Which would imply that the planet was never meant for Destiny’s crew, which goes against Cain’s original belief.

Young isn’t buying it. These aliens are too powerful. So…power and benevolence are incompatible? That’s an extraordinary opinion.

Now being afraid of that power, realising “they could squash us like ants if they wanted do” I do understand that.

But here’s something really interesting. Both Young and TJ have had an odd experience. When they look any of these visitors in the eye, they get a weird feeling. They can’t be in the same room as them for long without feeling like that have to get out. Fascinating.

Chloe doesn’t know how much longer she will be herself, so she’s recording messages for her loved ones, while she can.

Eli says, “start with someone easy, like me.”

Chloe is kind of offended by that. Of all the people, Eli is the hardest to say goodbye to.

Young has released the visitors. He has no reason to treat them as prisoners. They are given back their old quarters. They will be given tasks to do, to carry their weight as members of the crew.

He’s not happy about it, but at present, this seems the right thing to do.

Greer also has this strange feeling about them. And it’s nice to see him in a sling, given that he was shot in the last episodes. These are the little moments that make such a difference when TV shows take continuity seriously.

TJ takes Caine to see the place where they’re growing their own food. She questions him about her experience with the baby. Caine has no memory of any of that happening, but then, he has partial amnesia about their time on the planet. So…who knows?

But this is enough to cause her great pain.

Camille interviews them about what they remember. This explains a little more about this partial amnesia thing. They only seem to remember the most vague generic details of their time on the planet. No specifics. No actually memories of events happening.

They’re all like that.

Wray thinks the aliens didn’t want our people to remember …. Something.

Young asks if Camille is having the same weird feelings about the visitors. She says she’s the wrong person to ask because a lot of people creep her out. I found that very amusing.

Greer is being weird about Scott visiting Chloe, but that’s kind of Greer’s way. He doesn’t always come out with things plainly. When Scott pushes him, he explains his position. Chloe is isolated for a reason and he thinks Scott is not taking that seriously.

We get a little insight into how the military structure works. Greer says “It’s my job as a master sergeant to make sure butter-bar lieutenants like you don’t make mistakes.”

I’m not exactly sure what that means. I get the impression that Scott technically outranks Greer, but Greer may have more experience, and so is meant to keep the young officers accountable.

This is a good character scene. They have a pretty meaningful conversation. Scott reminds Greer how much he loves Chloe, and Greer reminds Scott that he’s not the only one. Greer prays for her every night, but he can see where this is going. Greer’s concern is not for a lack of caring for Chloe, but his love is of a different kind than Scotts. He can, perhaps, see things with greater clarity.

Greer and Scott are actually better representations of people of faith.

Eli sits down to talk with one of the visitors. He’s a little jealous he never got to see the planet. Some fragments of memories are starting to come back. She’s going to share an embarrassing memory, but I honestly couldn’t understand what she said. I rewound and listened again but still couldn’t make it out. I tried turning on subtitles, but nothing happened, so I guess this DVD doesn’t have them.

Anyway, the more she thinks about the planet, she starts to feel weird. Then her nose bleeds and she’s in excruciating pain. It all started when Eli mentioned the obelisk. It’s pretty confronting.

Caine seeks out Rush on the bridge.

Rush has been checking the navigational logs of the shuttle, to see what path it took to reach Destiny. But there was no path. The shuttle was there, and then it was here.

Rush makes a good point to Caine. He had no burning bush, no angel speaking to him. He has no evidence for his beliefs whatsoever. No grounds. Just assumptions.

Rush also points out that while the shuttle was returned to pristine condition, the people weren’t. But I don’t see that as direct evidence that God wasn’t involved.

See, they both have their own biases, like we all do.

TJ admits to Young that she’s not doing okay. Which is completely understandable. She’s just lost the one thing that gave her hope. Her only reason to keep going. She must be in a very dark place right now.

Greer actually takes Scott’s advice and visits Chloe.

He has a way of speaking openly and honestly with her that I think she appreciates.

She knows that once she is no longer herself, Young will see her as a threat. Greer says at that time, Young will remove the threat. One way or another.

She asks, “will it be you?”

And with a shake in his voice, he says “Yes, ma’am. I think so.”

Oh man. That hit me right in the heart.

She apologises.

He says he couldn’t let it be anyone else.

He asks for her forgiveness for when the time does come.

She’s quick to offer it.

This exchange broke me a little. I just wanted to hug them both.

He doesn’t think he can see her again. So he makes his goodbye now. She reaches to hug him, but he can’t do that.

Whew that was powerful.

Chloe records a very heart-felt message to Scott. I like that she wants Scott and Eli to take care of each other, as she knows they will.

And she asks Scott to forgive Greer for what he’s likely going to have to do. I imagine that’ll be a hard one.

Camille is trying to use hypnosis to help the visitors remember their time on the planet, which they named Eden.

They’re preparing for winter. 

The fact that this world has such harsh cold winters is compelling evidence that this planet wasn’t fashioned by the aliens specifically for the crew of Destiny to live on. If it were, they’d have made the climate more ideal for human habitation. They’d have arranged it so that it wouldn’t have been almost winter when Destiny arrived.

And then Peter remembers something startling. That woman who starting having painful convulsions while talking to Eli, she died on the planet. A tree fell on her before winter.

He saw her die months ago.

Now that he’s realised this, he’s also convulsing.

Time time, the convulsions were enough to kill him. But it’s weird. TJ says the symptoms of death were hypothermia.

From the condition of his body, TJ could argue that he died on the planet as well, from exposure.

Maybe Val died too, but the episode hasn’t exactly been clear about that.

TJ theorises that they’re all dying again. In order. The next one they find in her quarters. She looks like she’s freezing to death. But she’s got these weird contusions on her face.

Scott comes to see Chloe but she tells him to leave. I don’t think she wants him to see her anymore. She’s still herself for now, but for how long?

While TJ tries to prevent the other visitors from dying of hypothermia, Camille tries to get to the bottom of it all with Caine.

In his memory, snow is falling. The shuttle is their only shelter.

They’ve lost power so they can’t use the heating. The shuttle is airtight so they have to keep the door open or they’ll suffocate, which will let the cold in.

Caine slowly watches his friends die. He’s the last. He falls asleep in that shuttle. The next thing he remembers is waking up near Destiny.

Caine expects he’ll be dead before they next drop out of FTL. He’s remembered something.

He remembers that he’s already dead.

Whatever the aliens did to bring them back from the dead was only temporary.

The question is …. Why?

Caine has realised that his reanimation was not done by God, but by beings that, while powerful, can rebuild a man’s body, but not his soul. Maybe that’s what TJ and Young were sensing.

We’re seeing here that the aliens, which Gateworld refers to as Eden Engineers, are fallible. They have limits.

And now we get what I’d consider the first decent faith scene with Caine. He says that he has Caine’s DNA, some of his memories, but he is not the Robert Caine that God made.

TJ is surprised that after everything he still believes.

And he says, That’s faith.

Caine tries to reassure TJ that she has to believe her daughter is in a better place. Not an alien planet, but heaven. He encourages TJ to live her life, to fulfil Destiny’s mission, and to have faith in her crewmates.

This is the best Caine scene we’ve ever had. And I actually like it.

A kino has been found in the shuttle. Eli didn’t leave it there. It contains a recording of Caine’s last moments. The real Caine.

He’s praying for rescue while he freezes to death. And then there is a bright light outside the front window of the shuttle.

It seems that aliens did their best to restore the humans, but unlike with the shuttle, they didn’t have the capability to fully and completely restore the dead humans.

In an interesting twist on the cliche, I think we can say that this episode answered more questions than it raised. But those answers certainly lead to new questions.

I think we can now conclusively say that TJ’s experience with her baby on Eden was just a simulation from Destiny, to give her hope to carry on, as Young believed. She now knows that her baby is dead. And that’s really heart-breaking. In a way, I feel this with TJ, like some of my hope has been taken away as well.

Are the Eden Engineers the ones Destiny is searching for? The cause and origin of the fingerprint?

And what will become of Chloe? It’s looking pretty bleak for her at present.

This is quite possibly the most depressing episode in the stargate franchise, because it takes the innermost hopes of many characters and utterly crushes them. There is nothing darker than the death of hope.

Some people would argue that because it’s depressing, it’s intrinsically bad. If you’ve listened to me for any period of time, you’ll know that I strongly disagree with that.

But I’ll admit, this episode makes me feel pretty sad.

I think the parts I struggle with most are the realisations that all that TJ and the colonists put their hope and faith in was for nothing. Possibly because faith is so important to me. But just because something is hard, doesn’t make it bad.

On the other hand, the stuff with Chloe is equally dark and depressing, possibly even more so, but I loved those parts of the episode.

The show is really ramping up.

Next time, Destiny’s crew will find themselves caught in a war between two alien races. Should be interesting.

I’ll see you in two weeks.

Live long and prosper.

Make it so.