Stargate Archives

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

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

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

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

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Commentary Discussion

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Stargate Command

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Stargate SG1

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

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

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

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

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

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Stargate SG1 - Solitudes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Stargate SG1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Stargate SG1 Singularity

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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