Podcast appearances and mentions of Robert C Cooper

Stargate SG-1's Executive Producer returns to discuss Seasons Seven and Eight in-depth, the SG-1 film that became Lost City, the current American strikes and the US government's briefings on aliens.

Entre un fouet resté à la maison, la quête d'un grosse pile Duracel et les conséquences du changement climatique sur un étang sans poisson, on a disrupté la timeline et on a clairement tout vu et tout compris de Moebius (Retour vers le Futur en VF) part I & II écrit par Brad Wright, Robert C Cooper, Joseph Mallozzi et Paul Mullie, réalisé en 2005 par Peter Deluise.Un podcast Drama Queerz & What a Coinkyd Inc. Productions, présentée par Agathe Mametz, Morgann Gicquel et Niléane Dorffer. Photo du podcast Pauline Martinez. Mixage et compositions sonores assurée par Arnold Savary.Nous suivre : twitter.com/onatoutvu | instagram.com/onatoutvu_podcast | nileane.fr/@onatoutvuNous soutenir : patreon.com/OnaToutVu

We are thrilled to kick off 2023 with the return of Executive Producer, Writer and Director Robert C. Cooper to the show! In this pre-recorded episode we cover Season Six of SG-1, the nature of the Ark of Truth device, and answer your submitted questions!

Join Stargate's Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman to learn the ins and outs of the hotseat of the control room in this immersive roleplay and cosplay experience!Tickets and info are available now at www.thecompanion.app/events. Sign up as a member (paid or free) for a discount code!The events of ‘Heroes Part 1' and ‘Part 2' shocked Stargate fandom but as Kayleigh Dray argues, the tragic death of Dr. Janet Fraiser has only become more affecting in the years since it was broadcast. Content Warning: This Audio Article deals with the death of a character, please be advised. Read by Rebecca Davis and written by Kayleigh Dray. Theme song by Lofi Geek. Excerpts from Martin Wood's Stargate SG-1 Explorer Unit fan club interview: https://www.gateworld.net/sg1/s7/heroes-part-2/ Robert C. Cooper's GateWorld interview: https://www.gateworld.net/news/2021/01/how-heroes-came-to-be-stargate-most-memorable-episodes/ The original article on The Companion: https://www.thecompanion.app/2022/05/10/firefly/ The Companion's Audio Articles is a new series and we'd love to know if you like the new show. If you do, please share it with your friends on social media, WhatsApp, or any other text groups.  You can Tweet us @thecompanionapp or send a message on Discord: https://discord.com/invite/BcFBwtY3Ju 

Stargate SG-1's Writer, Director and Executive Producer returns to discuss Season Five! It was a pivotal season for the series, and we explore it in-depth as well as take answer fan questions in this PRE-RECORDED, and penultimate episode to Season Two of Dial the Gate. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

This episode begins a two-part arc that may just be my favourite plotline in Stargate Universe. Running from the drone ships, Destiny finds a planet populated by a settlement of humans. These humans claim to be the descendants of the crew of Destiny, their civilisation founded 2,000 years ago. This episode covers a lot of ground and has a very interesting structure. Let's dig into Stargate Universe "Common Ground." ----more---- Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven I'm Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars And I am a Nerd. This is episode 88 of the podcast Today, we're talking about  the Stargate Universe episode “Common Descent”   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 Destiny comes upon a colony of humans who claim that their civilization was founded two thousand years earlier ... by Destiny's own crew.   This episode was written by Robert C. Cooper. It was directed by Peter DeLuise And it first aired on the 18th of April 2011.   We're really in the home stretch of Stargate Universe now. This episode and next episode form a little two-part arc, and then the final two episodes round off the season arc.   I'll warn you in advance that I may be doing a lot of gushing over these next two podcasts. I love this episode and the next one.   Remember the CO2 scrubbers that were failing back in the pilot episode Air? Well, some of them on one of the decks are failing, resulting in headaches and nausea for the crew who sleep in that section.   I like how TJ immediately reports the unusually high number of people with similar symptoms all in the same area. There could be a cause which presents a bigger problem than just the medical one. Fortunately, Brody is already onto it.   They're still allowing Destiny to follow its own predetermined course, for the most part. They can control the ship if they have to, but the rest of the time they let it do its thing. It's just dropped out of FTL and there are two planets with stargates in range. One of them looks promising. Destiny is still helping them find the supplies they need.   When Eli meets Chloe and Camille in the observation deck, Chloe talks about how she hopes they find some of the purple fruit they discovered recently. Interesting that you'd expect to find the same fruit on multiple planets. I wouldn't expect that to be likely. Voyager did the same kind of the with Leola root being common to many planets in the delta quadrant.   Anyway, like most edible plant life in this part of the universe, they tasted terrible, but Chloe and Camille share a knowing look. Apparently, they were good for something else. But they're not gonna let on what that was to Eli.   That's when Chloe spots something out the window. Drones. Our old friends. We haven't seen them in a while, but last time we did, they nearly destroyed the ship. As they come into range, they open fire immediately.   So that's not good.   One would assume the crew have been practising operating the ship in a combat situation since last time. They seem to be doing a decent job flying and shooting. Greer is actually getting pretty good at it.   Scott detects the command ship. It's on an intercept course.   They're keeping distance between them, but they won't be able to keep it up until it's time to jump. That'll burn out the engines.   Young and his crew had assumed they were out of drone space, and Rush still believes this, so it seems the drones are actively pursuing Destiny. They may have tracked us using the re-programmed drone that got the crew out of their last encounter. They destroy it, but that'll only help after they make their next jump, assuming that really is how they were tracking us.   Rush thinks the damage they'll suffer from jumping early is a greater risk than the damage they'll suffer from the next attack.  Which just goes to show how bad an idea it really is to jump early. Something you only do in the most dire of circumstances.   This episode is our first indication that the drone problem really is going to be a bigger issue than just that two-parter in the middle of the season.   As the command ship comes into range, we see a huge swarm of drones. They're not gonna make it.   Except they do. Rush boosts the shields and they make it until the timer runs out. They jump.   As Eli says, they're lucky they're still alive. There's a lot of repair work to do. Destiny is not going to be able to survive continual attacks like that one. So let's hope the drones no longer have the ability to track Destiny.   They must have been travelling for quite some time, because Destiny wants to drop out of FTL again, near a planet. This presents a bit of a dilemma. Young is inclined to override Destiny and keep going. Just to be sure they can get far away from those drones. And I get that. When you're being chased by something scary, the last thing you want to do is stop running and stand still. But that's a very emotional response. It's actually Brody who is looking at this a little more logically. They need lime for the CO2 scrubbers. It's safe to assume Destiny has found some on this planet, which is why it wants to stop. They've dealt with the worse of the repairs. And as Rush says, if they don't stop soon, they're gonna have trouble breathing.   There are no drones immediately on sensors. The planet seems relatively inhabitable. At least this time they're not searching for lime in a dessert.   Space exploration has always been an important part of the Stargate franchise.  But you know one of the big things I like about SGU, there really is a sense of going where no one has gone before. In SG-1 and Atlantis, they were travelling to planets populated by humans, who had been placed there by the Goa'uld, or the Ancients. But here, in Stargate Universe, we're in the deep distant reaches, where no human, or any other race known to humans, has ever been. Not even the ancients. There's a real sense of wonder I get from that. But it's a spine-tingling, cold almost scary kind of wonder. It's hard to describe, but I think it's cool.   However, as I say that, who should run out of the forest, but two human beings. At least, they look human,   And they understand and speak English. But even more surprising, the young woman says “I know you. You're Matthew Scott.”   Okay.   When Scott demands to know how they know our names, the male says “You're the ancestors.”   They claim that their civilisation was founded 2,000 years ago by the crew of Destiny. They have historical Kino footage, which is how they recognised Scott and Greer. The logical conclusion here is that the ancestors were the alternate timeline crew from Twin Destinies. The time anomaly sent Destiny itself back a few hours, but the wormhole itself may have sent the crew back thousands of years. So why didn't they arrive on Earth in the first century? We know the wormhole was connected to Earth because Telford made it through. Remember that when a stargate gets impacted by a solar flair, not only does it travel through time, it also loops back on itself, so you come back out the source gate, not the destination. And since there was no Destiny there 2,000 years ago, Rush theorises that it simply connected to a nearby gate in the network. A gate that had already been placed by a seed ship far in advance of Destiny. 2,00 years ahead of it in fact. That's not too unbelievable. I mean, we know that Destiny will just plod along at sublight until it reaches a star to recharge, if necessary. If that ever happened in the past, Destiny could easily have fallen back a few thousand years behind its furthest seed ships.   Eli seems to be the only one who sees this as super cool. As he says “Don't you at least want to know how they survived and developed as a society?” I know I sure as heck would. Chloe rekons Eli played too much Sim City as a kid, but I'm with Eli. Chloe, Young, TJ and the rest have no poetry in their souls. I'd want to know every little thing about this society's history.   But Rush has to remind everyone why they came to this planet in the first place. They need lime. Jason and Eli can probably help them find it.   The crew are subjected to some hero-worship, which has got to be a little uncomfortable, if flattering.   Jason and Ellie don't understand how their ancestors can be here alive, but they mention their testament said that Destiny might return someday. The other Eli probably theorised about what had happened, and his words may have taken on sacred, almost religious importance.   This planet is not where they first established their civilisation. That was on a planet called Novus. This group came here as part of an expedition to try to find other viable worlds. But one day something happened and they couldn't dial Novus anymore. They think it was likely destroyed in an earthquake. And with no other gates in range, they were stuck here. That was 30 years ago.   These settlers have tents, radios and soccer balls. But no permanent buildings, it seems. You'd think that over the course of a generation they'd build some houses.   Camille is chuffed that the leader of this tribe has the same name as her father. It's nice to know that their descendants have finally managed to find palatable food and drink.   Eli wants to get his hands on the testament. How cool would it be to just sit down in a nice library for a few days and just read through it all. I'd be up for that in heartbeat.   We learn that Novus had a population of millions, and it was pretty advanced technologically. But it was facing some kind of natural disaster. There was a lot of political tension around the issue, as you can imagine, but it turns out there were two countries on the planet, each with a different political philosophy.  Tenara believed in the testament, which some of them wrote. The name means “The land of the Young” in ancient. The other group blamed alternate Eli for what happened. They thought Rush was still on board Destiny and would one day come and rescue them. He became a saviour figure. They broke off and formed a country of their own. Futura. Brody was one of them. He came up with the name.   They have some of the old footage on a data port compatible with Destiny. The original Kinos that first housed that footage are viewed like the Dead Sea Scrolls. Which makes perfect sense to me.   Rush seems to lack the enthusiasm everyone else has for all of this. But then, he doesn't have any descendants down there. His counterpart never made it to Novus.   When Jason and Ellie meet Rush on the bridge, they bow their heads, but apparently, it's not in reverence. Some of their descendants have come to believe that Rush was a demon who would drag their souls down to hell. And when Park remarks on how some things get twisted and exaggerated, Volker says “and some don't” which I found amusing.   But many Futurans worship Rush like a god, which I'm sure Rush would be thrilled about. We're treated to some footage of Eli showing where they're going to break ground building their town. He also explains the history of how the planet got the name Novus.   The settlers have helped the crew get the supplies they need and now they have a request. “Take us home to Novus.” They know the gate won't dial, but they don't know exactly what happened to their world. What state is it currently in?   These guys were sent out to create a colony, but with the expectation of help and support from the homeworld. Since they were cut off, they've had to make do on their own, and they're barely surviving.   Goodness, that all sounds familiar. Seems the Destiny crew have a lot in common with their descendants.   Eli and Camille feel they have a moral duty to help these people, which I would agree with. But Young points out they can't take that many people on Destiny. Eli has figured out the location of the planet. The trip will only be about a week. But with that many people on board, the lime they got here will be running out by the time they get there. If they can't secure more lime on Novus, they're finished. And that's not a risk Rush wants to take.   The people of Novus might be advanced enough to help them get Destiny back into a fully working condition, or, they could all be dead.   The theory, 30 years ago, was that a rogue black hole was approaching the system. The tidal forces could rip it all apart. But that process could have taken hundreds of years. And all of this was happening in the early eighties. Crazy. While I was a pre-school kid here on Earth, the Novans were looking for a new homeworld.   And there's another problem. The drones. In all the excitement, we'd kind of forgotten about them, hadn't we? That's actually how this episode started. The last thing they need right now is a drain on their resources. So… what's the alternative? Say “no thanks” and let their descendants, possibly their only remaining living descendants, just slowly die on this planet?   Young has a good compromise. The planet is close. They go there and investigate the planet and see what's up. Maybe they can repair the gate and then the settlers can get there without the ship.   It seems a reasonable first step to me.   Another clip from the Kino footage shows TJ giving birth to the first baby born on Novus. I love how Eli practically has tears in his eyes as he says it. It seems those versions of TJ and Young got back together and started a family.   They had a boy, by the way.   Then there's a big jump ahead. The town is well established. There are wooden structures that don't look too dissimilar from what you might see in an American frontier town in a western. It seems Eli has a child too. His only regret is that his mother will never know how they turned out, or get to meet her grandson.   A much older Young is giving a speech. This is the time when the Futurans broke off and formed their own country. Young seems pretty magnanimous about it all. But he talks about how the early days were hard, but it brought them closer together. They've build a life they can all be very proud of.   Eli still thinks Young's plan isn't enough. They should be taking everyone on board now. He hoped showing Young the footage would convince him of that.   So what are they going to do if they reach Novus and the gate can't be repaired, or there's nothing there to go back to?   Will they return here and help these people find some other home? Will they at least go back and tell them what they've learned?   It seems Young is offering no promises on that front. And that, I think, is what is really bothering Eli and Camille.   The leader of this world sadly observes that the Futurans were wrong at all. Destiny didn't come back to help them. If they'd known this sooner, they could have avoided generations of conflict over the question.   And that's when the drones appear. Not just in orbit, but flying through the atmosphere of this world.   That's a problem. Because if they leave the settlers here, they'll die.   There's only one option now. They all evacuate through the gate, as the drones blow the settlement to pieces.   Destiny is also under attack.   Young allows the settlers to evacuate. Good thing he has a heart after all.   Rush doesn't know how the drones found them.   Scott and Greer manage to destroy the drones, but the gate has a big chunk out of it. They're not getting off this planet that way.   Young has no choice. Destiny jumps.   Eli, Scott, Greer and Camille are stranded on the planet with the remaining settlers. Ellie asks an uncomfortable question. Why would the drones come here? And that's our fault. Destiny brought them here. So …. Rather than bringing salvation, Destiny's return has brought destruction and ruin. Boy were those Futurans wrong.   Eli and Rush have both come to the same conclusion. The drones are tracking Destiny via the gates. An active Stargate is a massive subspace event. The drones can detect that event.   There are other settlements on the planet. Jason and Ellie run off to warn them, but it's probably already too late.   This means that as long as they don't use the gate, they should be able to hide. They'll have to use the shuttle to get supplies from planets.   Young agrees with Rush that it's too dangerous to risk going back for everyone else. But…..if they don't use the gate, then the drones shouldn't be able to track them. I'd be buying a little time to get the drones off the scent and then going back, personally.   Eli may have found a way to get a signal out to Destiny. Stargates have a transmitter. They communicate updates with one another and send status to destiny. So far, all Eli can do is turn it on and off, but that's all they need to tap out an SOS.   I kinda wish they'd all give Brody a break. Yeah, I don't think Futura is the greatest name, but do they have to keep mocking him for that? The answer, by the way, is no. They don't. It's getting a bit old and I'm kind of annoyed on Brody's behalf. I think this is possibly meant to be funny? I'm not sure. But it reminds me of the kind of humour you sometimes see in old DC comics, where everyone makes fun of Aqua Man because he's the butt of all their jokes. And similar nonsense between Superman and Batman.  I hate that kind of humour, and really don't understand why people find it funny. If you do, then great. But it does nothing for me.   Anyway, they're overjoyed when they see that shuttle in the sky.   As they near the planet, speculation is rife. As usual, Eli is the voice of optimism. Their descendants have to be there. We passed down all our knowledge to them. But, as TJ points out, they passed down some of their disagreements too.   The shuttle descents toward Novus. There are no radio signals, which is odd, given they were advanced. They're passing through a layer of particulate matter. Dust and Ash. That's ominous. It's very cold down there. A nuclear winter?   They see a huge modern city. But it's completely deserted. It seems the ash came from a supervolcano and it produced conditions similar to a nuclear winter. There's nobody alive down there. So….where did they go? Are they all dead?   We'll have to tune in next time to find out.   This episode had a pretty unusual structure. It actually covered a lot of ground. First it raised the issue of the CO2, but very quickly became an episode all about the drone attacks. But then it transitioned, almost into an entirely different episode about finding their descendants. Only to have it all come together with the drones, and the CO2 being important elements of the climax. Then, we make it all the way to Novus before the episode ends. In my memory of earlier watches, this was all covered over a series of several episodes, not just one. But … as unusual as it may feel, this structure works for the episode. It's a thrilling ride.   And I can't wait to delve into the next one with you. That'll be called Epilogue.   Until then, have a great two weeks. Live long and prosper.   Make it so.  

We were planning on reflecting on SG-1 Seasons Two and Three for this episode with Robert C. Cooper, but we ended up receiving over 60 questions for the man, so have decided to turn this PRE-RECORDED episode almost entirely over to the fans! Enjoy! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

In this instalment of our Stargate Universe podcast, Rush makes a staggering discovery. Destiny's bridge. But can he take control of the ship? Meanwhile, a team go to a restricted planet in hopes of finding food, and Young must deal with the aftermath of the recent invasion by the Lucian Aliance. Specifically, what to do with those prisoners left onboard. This is a great episode of Stargate Universe, filled with tragedy, mystery and moral ambiguity. Come with me as we dig into it. ----more---- Transcript Welcome to nerd heaven I'm Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars And I am a nerd   This is episode 73 of the podcast. Today, we're talking about the Stargate Universe episode “Aftermath”   The description on Gateworld reads Dr. Rush directs a shuttle to a planet inaccessible by Stargate -- but a crash landing threatens to strand those on board. Meanwhile, Rush makes a stunning discovery on Destiny, and Young must decide what to do with his prisoners.   This episode was written by Robert C. Cooper It was directed by Will Waring And it first aired on the 5th of October 2010.   In this episode's recap, we revisit the chair device, which Franklin sat in and transformed into mist, and the code in human DNA that may eventually unlock control of the ship's computer.   Rush is having nightmares about his recent torture at the hands of Kiva. He finds Doctor Park in the computer room. He solvers the issue she's struggling with in a few seconds and moves on, to continue roaming the ship. It's an amusing moment.   But Rush isn't wandering aimlessly. He approaches a door and opens it. And enters a room. And as the lights come up, we begin to realise just where he is.   The bridge. Rush has found Destiny's bridge. It's immediately recognisable to anyone who has watched science fiction before. There are consoles all about, and one seat in the centre. The captain's chair.   Evidently, this is not the first time Rush has been here, although there is still a look of reverence and awe on his face. No, he walked here on purpose. He's been here before. And he's seeing an image of his dead wife, Gloria. And she voices what is going on in his head. He's finally unlocked the master code. He has control over everything. And he's not going to tell anyone.   This is a very Rush move, but we still have to ask the question why. We'll be exploring that for a while.   This was a very exciting moment for me, when I realised what Rush had discovered. You'll notice we never saw the bridge of this ship during the entire first season. We weren't even sure if there was a bridge. That was a bit of a bold move, to do an entire season of a show set on a spaceship and never see the bridge, but it actually makes a lot of sense. Remember, our characters are not in control of this ship. They're not the crew. They're just along for the ride, going wherever this ship wants to go. That itself was also interesting.   But having gone that entire year without it, it makes the discovery of the bridge feel like an event. It's more momentous. It's more exciting. I thought this was brilliantly done.   So let's talk about the bridge itself. It's very in keeping with the visual aesthetic of Destiny, we've seen control panels before, but the internal layout is pretty reminiscent of Star Trek. It's basically what all of us nerds expect, and want, a bridge to look like. But the interesting thing is that it actually folds down into the ship, and retracts back up. Kind of like the blast shield in the original Battlestar Galactica, but in reverse. When it's embedded down inside the ship, it can't see anything out the front window. But it's also safe and more protected from enemy fire. When it lifts up, they get a beautiful view out the front of the ship. This was a nice bit of design.   Camille is interviewing Ginn, the Lucian Alliance scientist. Ginn is explaining what the alliance knew of the 9th chevron. The address that leads to Destiny was known in ancient legend. It was said that it led to the power of the gods. But Ginn isn't thinking of the Goa'uld, who ruled over most of the Lucian Alliance people, until recent time. She's thinking of the ascended ancients. Which is more accurate, since Destiny is an ancient ship.   The legends say that Destiny is capable of controlling time and space. And that get's Camille's attention. That's why the Lucian Alliance wanted to come here.   Ginn explains that the alliance has actually been around longer than we might have thought. They predate the fall of the system lords. But they were quick to fill the power vacuum left over by claiming all that leftover Goa'uld technology. They came to Ginn's world and seized it. The only food they had to eat was what the Lucian Alliance provided. So they really were slave masters, just like the Goa'uld before them.   They controlled what was taught in schools, and they recruited children to fight on their behalf. Ginn herself was forced into service a few years ago with death threats against her family.   Suddenly we have a lot more sympathy, not just for her, but for a lot of people working for the Lucian Alliance. These people are not all willing members. Does that justify the things they've done back in the Milky Way, and here on Destiny? Who do you forgive? Is Ginn innocent, but Kiva guilty? Where is that line drawn? It's all very complicated.   Ginn argues that the alliance survivors are not getting enough food. Nobody on board is. Welcome to Destiny. You people chose to come here. Life on this ship sure isn't easy.   Young has to decide what he's going to do with these people currently being held. But he's not going to make the decision alone. Camille will have a voice as well.   Ginn argues, as if pleading for her life, that some of them have been cooperative. They can be trusted. They can contribute. But it keeps coming back to that difficult question. Which of them do you trust?   Conveniently, the Lucian Alliance still thinks Telford is one of them. So he's still spying in the cell.   And now we see the other side of things. The crew in the mess hall are complaining about the lack of food. “Maybe we shouldn't be giving our rations to the enemy,” one of them says. It's easy to treat your prisoners well when you have plenty of resources. But when your food is running out, it becomes tempting to deny the prisoners first. But, they're human beings too.   Riley says “The way we treat prisoners says everything about us as a civil and moral society.” And that's a very good point.   Young has a different perspective. He doesn't think this is about the proper treatment of POWs. These people invaded the ship and tried to kill them. “I was just following orders” is not an argument that Young finds very convincing. They're not all as nice as Ginn. Park is afraid to go to sleep, just knowing there are people on board that would kill her if given the chance.   I don't think Young has made up his mind yet, but he's definitely trying to counteract Camille's perspective.    So…. what do you think? What would you do?   Rush thought it was going to be easier to control the ship, just like turning a key, but this ship was designed to be run by a crew. Gloria points out the ship has a crew.  But Rush means a crew that knows what they're doing. It always comes down to this with Rush, doesn't it. Nobody else is smart enough. Nobody else can operate at his level. He has a similar arrogance to Rodney Mackey. And yet, expressed very differently.   Rush thinks this ship was never meant to run on it's own. They were supposed to send a crew. But they never did.   He's being smart, leaving the ship on auto-pilot until he knows what he's doing. Right now, he's trying to understand why Destiny stops at some planets but not others.    We still don't know exactly what Gloria is. How is she here? Is Rush just losing his mind? Or is there something more?   The crew desperately need food and Rush has found a planet that should be rich in plant life, and yet, it's locked out. Destiny won't be stopping to let them gate there. Why? Rush makes the decision to drop them out of FTL. Everyone is confused. Why did the ship drop out when there are no active stargates to dial?   Rush argues it away by saying the planet is in shuttle range. The ship knows about this planet because it does have a gate. The gate is just non-functional.   It's actually pretty plausible.   TJ isn't fully recovered from her ordeal, but she's got skills they need, so she's going on the mission. The shuttle ride will take an hour each way. That leaves them 5 hours on the planet. They hope to repair the gate. If it's in range again next time they drop out, they might be able to gate back to it.   Gloria tells Rush he's missing things. Making mistakes, but when he ignores her, she suddenly becomes Doctor Franklin. So that's interesting. Franklin is telling Rush things that he hasn't noticed, which means he is more than simply a manifestation of Rush's own mind. He's separate. That is fascinating, but what he reveals is of concern. The super-rotation in the planet's atmosphere will cause some nast turbulence. Theoretically, the shuttle should handle it, but then, it is millions of years old.   Just as they think they're okay, the engines just cut out and they crash, essentially falling out of the sky. It's a thrilling sequence. It looks visually spectacular for its time and it's pretty suspenseful.   Riley's legs are pinned, and he can't feel them. The shuttle isn't in good shape. If they can't find the gate and repair it, they'll be stranded on this planet forever.   Moving Riley could be dangerous for him, but if they don't eventually, they won't be able to get him to the gate. But when they try to move him they discover the metal is cutting off circulation to a wound. Even if they could get him out, he'd likely bleed to death.   Rush has really messed up this time. He's not operating at his usual level and it could cost a bunch of people their lives. The reason he says he's keeping the bridge a secret is because the others won't know what they're doing. But he's proving to be pretty inept himself at the moment. He really just needs to bring others into this. Keeping his discovery a secret could get everyone killed.   ..And now the Lucian Alliance are rioting.   And Destiny has just jumped. So… that five hours went quickly. They've basically done nothing. I suppose they spent all that time trying to walk to the gate.   There is still some hope that the planet might still be in range next time it drops out of FTL, but there's no guarantee.   Greer has found the gate, but it's buried under a whole lot of rock.   Rush thinks that Gloria and Franklin are either hallucinations, because he's losing his mind, or they're the ship trying to communicate with him. But they actually serve an important narrative job. With Rush keeping this to himself, he's got nobody to talk to. Now in a book, you can have internal monologue, but that doesn't work on TV. Stories are primarily told through dialogue, and that means he needs another character to converse with.   Once at FTL, the ship needs to run for 4 hours. After that, Rush can stop it again, assuming he can think of an explanation again. But that will be his last shot to save the crew on the planet.   So why keep it a secret? Why not bring others in? Gloria is asking the right questions. And Rush's answer shows that he's still not trusting Young. Young is mentally unstable. Young is not fit to lead the mission. Young allowed the Lucian Alliance on board.   Yes, Young is imperfect and makes mistakes, but Rush is making a bigger mistake right now. Honestly, he needs to get over this thing he has with Young or it might just kill everyone.   TJ and Riley have a great character scene together. As he faces the likelihood of his impending death, his thoughts turn to the spiritual, which often happens. His mother was Anglican, but his father didn't believe. He was never very spiritual himself, but now he's asking questions. He asks TJ what she believes. She isn't sure, but her recent experiences have got her wondering. They've seen some amazing things out here they can't explain. She reveals her experience on the faith planet with her baby. Something she's not told anyone else.   After the recent riot, Young has made his decision. The next viable planet they find, the Lucian Alliance people will be left there. Telford has used the stones to speak with Stargate Command. Young is ordered to keep some key Lucian Alliance people on board. If he doesn't obey, Telford might relieve him. Young asks a good question. Has he earned the trust of the people on the ship enough that they would follow him rather than Young? I'm not sure. I think most of them would be very torn between their loyalty to Young, and their loyalty to Stargate Command.   Digging the gate out could take weeks, so they take the risky move of blasting it out.  This could damage the gate, or worse, ignite it, which could take out half the planet.  Rush has dropped them out of FTL. The planet is still in range, but still locked out. The thing that puzzles Brody is that there are no other planets in range and it's only been 3 hours. So why did it drop out?   Rush has another excuse. It's damage to the engine from the recent pulsar causing them to drop out at shorter intervals. You can tell from Young's facial expression that he's not buying it for a second. Rush is up to something.   They're going to try to override the lockout and dial anyway. It's a longshot. But, they've managed to unearth the gate, so it works. They establish a wormhole! I've never seen Rush so relieved. But what about TJ and Riley?   Young goes to see Riley. It's a difficult conversation. Young reassured Riley that he's a good man. None of this was his fault. Then Riley asks for help. He's in pain. What he wants is a quick merciful death. Wow. That's heavy. So young suffocates him. Honestly, I can't imagine that would be a particularly nice way to go. But I guess it was quicker than waiting to bleed out slowly.   What do I say about this? It's a difficult moral issue, and I don't have all the answers.   What I can tell you is that it hit me harder this time around. Because I've gotten to know Riley as a character a bit more. He's not just some no-name redshirt. He's a significant character on the show. And how he's dead.   And I'm sorry to have to say it, but his blood is on Rush's hands.   Rush tries to justify it, but he knows that all of this was his fault. And there's something else. He says he's found that this ship was named Destiny for a reason.   Most of the Lucian Alliance have been left on the planet to fend for themselves. I wonder what will become of them. Will they all die? Will they become the founders of a new human civilisation in this distant galaxy?   Meanwhile, the conflict between Earth and the Lucian Alliance back in the Milky Way is heating up, and there are fears that they may attack Earth.   Some of those who remain on board are Ginn, Varro and Simeon.   Young is not okay. While the others toast Riley in the mess hall, Young drinks alone in his quarters with tears streaming down his face. And that's okay.   Then something pops up on one of the monitors, and Destiny drops out of FTL. There's an object out there coming into range. Whatever it is, they're heading straight for it.   We'll find out what that object is next time, when we talk about the episode Awakening. It should be pretty cool.   Don't forget, you can find my original works of science fiction, including the Jewel of The Stars series, at AdamDavidCollings.com/books   Have a great two weeks. Live long and prosper Make it so.

We are excited to have Stargate Writer, Director and Executive Producer Robert C. Cooper back for his fourth Dial the Gate appearance. In this PRE-RECORDED episode we focus almost exclusively on Stargate Atlantis from its inception to the series finale, and Cooper provides us with details on several of his key episodes, including "Sateda" and "Vegas". --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Writer and Executive Producer Robert C. Cooper returns! This time we are going back to (nearly) the beginning of SG-1. We've already discussed episodes like "The First Commandment" and "The Torment of Tantalus," but what about the remainder of Season One and classic episodes such as "There But For the Grace of God?" --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

In the latest instalment of my Stargate Universe rewatch, we find Colonel Telford (Lou Diamond Phillips) taking over command of Destiny to enact a plan they hope will bring the crew back home. Meanwhile, Eli and Chloe have some character development as they visit family and friends via the communication stones. This is the first "Will they get home" episode that Stargate Universe has attempted. A staple of Star Trek Voyager. But how does SGU handle this trope? This episode also explores the theme of how you treat another person's body when you are just a guest inhabiting it. -- Get my book 1 of my series Jewel of The Stars for just 99 cents at http://books2read.com/jewel Or the free prequel at http://www.adamdavidcollings.com/free ----more---- Transcript Welcome to nerd heaven I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars And I am a nerd   This is episode 56 of the podcast Today, we’re talking about the Stargate Universe episode Earth   The description on Gatworld reads Colonel Telford takes over Young's command in order to enact a dangerous plan to try and get the ship's crew home. Back on Earth, Young, Eli, and Chloe visit their families.   The STORY was BY: Brad Wright & Robert C. Cooper and Martin Gero The TELEPLAY was BY: Martin Gero It was directed by Ernest Dickerson And it first aired on the 6th of November 2009 Remember how Young told his wife how much he wanted to get home to be with her, how he still loved her? Well, this episode opens with him in sickbay being tended by TJ, and he tells her she’s beautiful. To which she immediately replies in a stern voice, “Don’t.”   So this is the first we learn that these two have a history together. An illicit history, given that Young is married.Suddenly Young’s words to his wife sound hollow. Not so much because of the mistakes of the past, but because he’s now telling TJ she’s beautiful. You don’t just tell a woman she’s beautiful unless you’re wanting something to happen, not the way he said it.   But just as they kiss we realise this is a fake-out. Young was dreaming. Yes, he’s got TJ on his mind, but he’s not necessarily actively pursuing her.   It is believable that he’s dreaming about her. She’s within reach. His wife isn’t. Given the fact he might be stuck on this ship for the rest of his life, that presents quite a strong temptation. Let’s see if he’s strong enough to resist that temptation.   Clearly, whatever went on between those two caused pain for TJ, because Young apologises in his dream. I think he probably realised he was doing the wrong thing by his wife and called the whole thing off. And that’s what hurt her.   So Young and Camille are using the communication stones to attend a meeting on earth at Homeworld Command in the Pentagon. And for once, Young has not body-swapped with Talford. Talford is here standing next to him.   Telford is the one to give them the news that they may have found a way to get everyone on Destiny home. I love the way Jack says “Suprise.” That’s so Jack. I really enjoy his inclusion in this show as a surprisingly regular guest. In a lot of ways, Richard Dean Anderson IS Stargate, and I always get a thrill when he shows up in Universe.   So, this is what was often referred to on Star Trek Voyager as a “Will they get home?”  episode. Voyager did a heap of those. They seemingly find something that might get them home, and they try to make it happen, only to be foiled at the end of the episode. Afterall, it was the 90s. You didn’t make a status-quo changing shift like getting Voyager home before the series finale.   The inherent problem with these episodes is that you know the crew are not going to get home.    Episodes like this CAN work, if you find drama and stakes in something other than the question of “will they get home.” But Voyager overused the concept.   But this is Stargate Universe. It’s much closer to modern TV in its construction. So status-quo changes CAN take place. But the whole premise of this show is that these people are stuck on a spaceship far far from home. I think it’s pretty safe to say that nobody in the audience is buying that they’ll get home. It’s not gonna happen.   So … does the episode still work? Let’s keep going and find out.   After the title card, we cut to post-briefing discussions. The episode chooses not to reveal to us, yet, what the plan is. All we know is that it’s risky. Talford thinks it’s worth the risk, given how dire the situation is on Destiny. Young’s not so sure. He wants more calculations, but the only way to get more data is to actually try it.   Young wants to get everyone on board a voice. Jack’s not going for that. Young is in command of that ship. He can, and should, make decisions on behalf of those he commands. And JAck is giving him a direct order to do so. Young wants to treat this like a democracy. I can understand why. This is a decision that could cost all of them their lives. This is not a normal command situation. A lot of the people at risk are civilians who aren’t part of the chain of command. Nobody signed up to be on that ship to begin with.   Who do you side with here? I can see both men’s perspectives. Of course, it’s hard to form an opinion without knowing more about what the plan entails, but we probably know as much as we need to.   Anyway, regardless of the risk to his career, Young says he’ll give Jack his decision tomorrow.   I suppose he feels a little bit of freedom, being so far from home, and he probably deserves a little extra latitude, but Jack can have him replaced. All he needs to do is use the stones and order someone else to relieve Young. So he’s taking a big risk by defying a direct order.   In a real-world military situation, he’d probably be relieved on the spot. I dunno. I’ve never been in any military, but I do know they take orders very seriously. We learn a little about Camille through her conversation with the IOA bigwig. He’s her boss. By the way, the IOA is the International Oversight Advisory. Basically a multi-nation civilian organisation that oversees the Stargate program, which is run by the US Airforce.   We learn that Camille was passed up for promotion a number of times. She and her boss don’t seem to have a great deal of regard for each other. He really wants this mission to happen, and he wants Camille to use her influence with the people on Destiny to ensure it does. She may be able to pull that off. We also learn she has a personal stake in getting home, but she’s no more convinced that young that they’ll survive the attempt.   Already, we can see that the episode has replaced the question of “will they get home” with a new question. “What is the plan?” and “Will they attempt it?”   Of course, in the very next scene, we learn the nature of the plan. The crew are discussing it in the mess hall, so clearly Young and Camille have returned. The idea is actually pretty simple, and sounds logical.   The reason they can’t dial home is because they don’t have enough power. The only known power source that could do it was the core of the planet where Icarus Base was constructed.   Destiny recharges its power by flying through the outer edge of a star. At that moment, incredible energy is available to the ship. Enough to power a shield that can protect the ship to begin with.   They believe that if they dial while they’re in the star, the power of the entire star will be available to them. They have to use the ship as a conduit and channel it into the gate.   Sounds feasible. But I can see a potential problem. Last time the ship recharged in a  star, it didn’t get up to full capacity. It basically half-charged the batteries.  Rush and Eli have no idea why. Could whatever caused them to not fully charge also prevent them from getting enough power to the gate? Seems likely.   The ship won’t recharge itself for a few more months, but they could try to drain the power manually.   Rush doesn’t agree with the scientists back home. He thinks it’s too risky. Of course, the people back home suspect Rush doesn’t actually want to go home. And they’re right. Of course he doesn’t. So is he being honest about the risk, or is he sabotaging the idea because he wants to stay on Destiny?   Chloe and Eli are heading to earth. This is Eli’s first time using the stones and he’s pretty nervous. Not so much about the technology, although it’s gotta be weird swapping bodies with someone else, but about what he’s gonna say to his mum.   Okay. So this time Young is back in Telford's body again. Eli remarks “I wonder what they’re doing in our bodies.” And as soon as he says it, Young just gives this look. Like he’s really worried what Talford might do. We’ll come back to that look.   Talford is under orders to execute the rescue plan. He’s brought two scientists with him to make it happen. And they’re going to drain the power to force Destiny to recharge by firing the ship’s weapons.   In this case, this isn’t just Talford throwing his weight around. He’s acting under Jack’s orders. He didn’t wait for Young’s answer, but he didn’t need to. And Young was gonna ask for more time. I’m not saying I agree with Jack. But he’s within his legal rights here.   Of course, Young is right to point out that Jack often followed his conscience against the chain of command, which is exactly what Young is doing. Those renegade heroes, when they get promoted it sometimes comes back and bites them, doesn’t it.   One of Telford's first acts as the new commanding officer of Destiny is to confine Greer to quarters. Greer, to his credit, doesn’t make a fuss.   Eli doesn’t think his mum is going to be able to handle the truth, so he opts to pretend to be somebody who works with Eli, rather than Eli himself. It means that he can see her, and spend time with her, but not fully. They can’t really connect because she doesn’t know who he is. But interestingly, it allows him to say some things to her that he might not usually be able to say. Because he’s hiding behind a mask. Kind of like how ventriloquists often say things through their puppet that they’d never say themselves.   So his mum gives him a coke. Eli tells her that her son quit, and is on a bit of a crash diet. She may not recognise him when she sees him next. This is interesting.   Eli was somewhat overweight. That’s probably one of the many reasons I identify with him so much. I’m a fat nerd.. Actor David Blue looks quite different today. He recently talked about this in an interview with Dial the Gate. He’d actually put on some weight for a previous role just before this show. But he wanted to lose that weight. He actually made sure the producers were okay with that before he took the job. After all, he said, Eli is in a survival situation on a spaceship with limited food. It makes logical sense he’d lose weight. The actor wanted to be healthier himself, plus it made good sense for the character. It would have been cool to see the change take place over the course of the show, had it continued.   Anyway, she talks about how he was always brilliant but never applied himself. So..maybe Eli’s lack of work, lack of finishing university was more about some personal laziness and less about his mother’s health. I dunno. We never really find out what her health problems are, but they don’t seem to interfere with her day to day living.   This is a really good character scene. David Blue does a great job of showing how emotional he gets when his mother asks him to tell ….. Himself … that she’s proud of him. But he can’t let himself tear up too much or she’ll be weirded out. She shows just enough so the audience knows what he’s feeling, without too much.   Rush is wanting the scientists to be much more methodical and careful than they want. They say doing it his way could take months. More stalling? Well, he’s proved right almost immediately when things go badly. Riley is badly injured. TJ says it’ll be touch and go. Not good.   I tend to side mostly with Rush on all of this, but Talford is right about one thing. Rush is worried that with everything that’s happened, he’s worried they’re not going to let him come back. He has a vested interest in this rescue attempt failing.   Chloe told some of her old friends that she’s her own cousin. They’re taking her out of the town and Eli is gonna join them. This whole thing, spending time with your friends and family without them knowing who you are. It’s gotta be awkward.   Eli is loving this, because now that he's in a body that’s slimmer than his, and probably more attractive, he’s catching the attention of the ladies. They’re approaching him, and agreeing to dance with him. This is new territory for him and he’s loving it.    Chloe’s not having as much fun, though. One of her so-called friends moans about how it sucks that her dead father is no longer able to hook him up with some wall-street connections. She does well not to punch him in the face.   Another so-called friend has basically stolen her old boyfriend.   This scene is actually quite a turning point in Chloe’s story. She realises how shallow her friendships have always been.  And then Eli takes care of her while she’s drunk, being a good example of a real friend. This is another good character scene. Chloe tells Eli that he’s a good friend. And she really means it. Eli knows he is too, and he always will be, but he takes it as a bit of a slap in the face. Because that’s all girls ever want him to be. A friend.   Meanwhile, Young pays his wife a visit but she won’t even let him in the door. But says his peace and she comes out to him. And they do more than talk. They have sex together. Now there’s nothing wrong with a married couple making love, but remember, he’s not actually there physically. He’s in Telford's body. So she’s having intercourse with Telford's body. And I have major issues with this. This is a terrible violation of Telford. His body is being used for sexual activity without his knowledge or consent. That’s not okay. You might even say it’s akin to rape. There was actually a bit of controversy surrounding a similar circumstance in the movie Wonder Woman 1984 recently. I get Young’s desire to be close to his wife. I get feeling this need as well. But in my opinion, what they’re doing is wrong.   Stargate Universe will continue to explore the theme of how you treat another person’s body when you’re a guest in it.   To make things even more awkward, Destiny chooses that moment to drop out of FTL and that causes a momentary interruption to the stone connection. So Talford suddenly finds himself in bed with Talford’s wife...and well, I don’t need to describe it in detail. You get the idea.   So he now knows exactly what Young has been doing with his body. Young’s wife explains one of the reasons she’s found it so hard to accept Young back is that he’s trapped on that ship with HER. And that, of course, meaning TJ. So she knows he had an affair with TJ. She also knows that it’s over. And it is. Despite that dream he had at the beginning of the episode, it’s over.   Camille has just as many doubts about this plan as Rush does, but she makes a good point. It would be safer if he was involved. IS she just appealing to his vanity or does she really believe all of this? In the end, it doesn’t matter. She’s right. Rush has found some ways to increase the odds.   So Destiny enters the star and stars charging. They begin dialling the gate. The gate is starting to spark with. There’s too much power going through it. Eventually Talford agrees to try shutting it down, but they can’t. It won’t respond.   Talford and his cronies show their true colours by running for the stones. They don’t want to die on this ship. And they’re the only ones with an escape route.   Turns out a lot of this was staged by Rush. The ship would have exploded if they’d kept trying to dial, but Rush put safeguards in place and arranged for the alarms to go off. It was all to get rid of Talford, which I think everyone agrees needed to be done. But what I really like is that Rush is upfront about it all. He doesn’t try to hide it. And that’s kind of refreshing. Although Young wants Eli to go over the data and make sure Rush isn’t lying about the dangers that plan represented.   The crew are now coming to the realisation that they could be on this ship for a long time. There’s no quick and easy way home.   The final scene of the episode is Talford showing up at Young’s house. The implication here is that he’s going to pretend to be young inhabiting his body. That way, he gets to have sex with Young’s wife.   This, obviously, is no better than what Young did. Young violated Telford's body, and now Talford is sleeping with another man’s wife under false pretenses, essentially violating her. What a mess. Neither of these crimes is justified by the other.   It would be all so much simpler if people would just do the right thing, wouldn’t it?   So that was Stargate Universe’s first “Will they get home?” episode. Let’s evaluate how they did.   The conflict of the episode wasn’t really about will they get home. It was more about trying to stop Talford and his cronies from destroying the ship. In that regard, I think this episode worked much better than the typical Voyager episode.   SGU doesn’t do these types of stories often. And that’s good. While they definitely did it right this time, had they continued to do “will they get home” stories, it would have gotten old, just like it did on Voyager.   But here’s something to think about. The IOA boss told Camille that if this rescue was successful, he wanted to try to duplicate it with a ship in our galaxy. They could get to a point where they could actually travel between Earth and Destiny on a regular basis. They could send a proper team out to explore the ship.Take supplies.   It would have been wrong to bring people home this early. It’s only the third regular episode. But what if they’d done this in a season or two, and it worked. That’s kind of what they did on Atlantis. During the first season, they were completely cut off from the Milky Way. But by the beginning of season 2, they had the ability to travel between the galaxies. IT wasn’t convenient, but it was possible. As the show went on, it got easier and easier until it was like going across the road.   They could have done something similar with SGU. AFter a few seasons those who wanted to go home could leave destiny. They’d be replaced with other characters who were better equipped. The survival aspect would have lessened and it would have focussed more on completing Destiny’s mission (which we’ll learn about in season 2, I believe).   It might have been an interesting way to go. I dunno. It’s just fun to speculate on what they might have done with this show, had it run for more seasons than it did.   So that was Earth. Next time we’ll be talking about the episode “Time.” It’s quite a fun one.   Don’t forget, you can get the first book in my Jewel of The Stars series for just 99 cents wherever ebooks are sold. It’s also available in paperback. Or, you can launch on with my free prequel at AdamDavidCollings.com/free   Have a great two weeks Live long and prosper Make it so

In the last of the resource-gathering episodes of Stargate Universe, we head to an icy planet in an attempt to find drinkable water for the crew. Meanwhile, back on board Destiny, the mysterious alien swirling wind from the desert planet has stowed away and is stealing what little remains of their existing water. Let's dig in and see what we think of this episode. ----more---- Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars And I am a Nerd   This is episode 55 of the podcast Today we’re talking about the Stargate Universe episode “Water.” The description on Gateworld reads Severe rationing can't save the Destiny's dwindling water supply, forcing Colonel Young and Lieutenant Scott to seek out drinkable water on a deadly ice planet. The story was written by Brad Wright & Robert C. Cooper and Carl Binder The teleplay was written by Carl Binder It was directed by William Waring And it first aired on the 30th of October 2009   It’s no secret that this show was heavily inspired by Battlestar Galactica. It had a similar tone and shooting style. The stories are very different, of course, but if you look, you can see some commonality in the early episodes. Both stories find a group of people, many of them civilians, on a long-term space journey they weren’t planning for. This brings certain practical problems. The need for things like air, food, water, power. Both shows dealt with these issues early in their first seasons. In fact, Battlestar Galactica had an episode dedicated to providing for the fleet’s water needs. Like this one, it involved going down to a dangerous ice planet. The difference is, that episode focussed on recruiting the people who would do the work, in that case, criminals on a prison ship. Here in Stargate Universe, we focus on the mission down to the planet.   Similarities like this are to be expected when you’re dealing with a space setting, but it’s interesting to note them.   So we’ve solved the air problem, and the power problem. But water is still a concern. Greer is chatting with Riley who tells a story of some trapped miners who survived by drinking their own urine. That’s gotta be a bad idea, since it’s all the waste product your body wants to get rid of.   But it’s even worse. The water levels are going down faster than they should. Young has guards on duty making sure nobody takes more than their share. It’s a bit of a mystery.   They’ve actually got half of what they had when they first arrived. Rush and Eli can’t explain where the water is going. There’s nothing wrong with the system.   As far as Young is concerned, this is all moot. Now that the ship has recharged itself, they should just be able to dial Earth. And that’s when Rush reveals that the ship has not charged itself up to full. It’s about 40% of original design capacity.   Young thinks it’s pretty clear Rush is just pulling that number out of his butt, he doesn’t say butt. But Eli admits he was actually the one to pull it out of his butt. It’s an amusing moment. Yet another episode that has humour in it. The humour in SGU is a different kind of humour. It’s more character-based humour. Moments that we laugh at, but they could believably happen with the situation the characters are in. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always enjoyed Jack’s pithy one-liners, and Teal’c’s awkward turns of phrase, but this type of humour fits much better in a more serious show like SGU. The show is not devoid of humour. It’s just a different type of humour.   Anyway, the point is, Rush is not making this number up. The ship is charged and functional, but it’s not full. And they still don’t have the ability to dial Earth. Remember, it took the core of a planet to power the gate to travel from the Milky Way to Destiny. Even a zero point module wasn’t enough. So it’s not surprising that dialling back from this spaceship is not so easy.   Young wants Rush to bring Brody in on the problem because he’s an engineer. Meanwhile, Young wants to borrow Eli.   And the conspiracy theories are still running rife. One of the other civilians is telling Volker he thinks there is more water than they’re being told. He reckons the military are hoarding it, so they can control the civilians. I’m really curious what it is that leads people to this kind of thinking. I’ve never been one for conspiracy theories.    Anyway, Young wants to know who among the crew he can trust, so he has Eli using the Kenos to spy on people throughout the ship. If people are planning sedition, Young wants to know about it.  I’m of two minds about this. On one hand, I can understand Young’s perspective. This is a desperate situation, which is likely to bring out the worst in people. There might be a real danger from people trying to overthrow the command structure. Not conspiracy nuts like the guy talking to Volker. Young knows he’s harmless. But others. So it makes sense he needs to keep a tab on what’s going on. But it feels kinda icky. Eli hates what he’s being asked to do, and I don’t blame him.   And then we see a wispy breeze full of particles blow past Eli. That should look familiar. You remember Scott’s strange encounter back on the limestone planet? It blew about the sand, taking the form of the priest who raised him, and ultimately helped him find water.   This would appear to be related.   Destiny drops out of FTL and dials the gate. This is a common pattern. This is what the ship is programmed to do. It enters a system and drops out of FTL for a time. It sets a timer, letting the crew know when it’ll jump away again.   It seems the ship can sense that the crew need water, so it’s found them a planet with water ice. But it’s pretty cold down there. Eli gives us a nice little Star Wars reference. It seems he’s an original trilogy purist. He refuses to call Empire Strikes Back Episode 5. I’m kind of the other way. I love viewing those movies as a 6-part whole in chronological order. I know, most people will call me a heretic for that. I don’t care.   The bad news about the planet is that it doesn’t have much of an atmosphere, and what little there is, is poisonous. They’ve found some spacesuits onboard Destiny. They’ll have to use them. The suits look pretty cool. They’re metal and look like armour. They probably doubled as combat suits.   So the gate we see in this show is different to what we’ve seen in the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies. There’s the obvious difference that the entire gate spins. I really quite like that. But there’s more. I don’t think I talked about this in the pilot, but after the wormhole disengages, the gate vents out steam or gas, or something. It’s like it builds up heat while it’s running and has to dissipate it. IT gives these stargates an old-fashioned feel, like they were a prototype before the milky-way gates were perfected. I like it. It’s a nice touch.   Young calls for Scott but he’s not answering his radio. Turns out he’s too busy sucking face with Chloe. And who should be sent to find him, but Lieutenant James. She’s not too happy to find him in this position. She has a right to be annoyed with him. He shouldn’t have his radio off. Remember, it was a radio call that interrupted the intimate liaison between these two back on Icarus. There’s a time and a place, and Scott seems to have little concept of that. IF he’s on duty, he shouldn't be getting busy with the ladies.   I love the stinging remark she gives him as he walks past. “What, you couldn’t find a broom closet?”   Then she looks at Chloe, who I think is feeling embarrassed at being caught in the act, so to speak, and probably sensing the tension between Scott and James. I don’t know how much Scott has told her about them. and kind of gives her this half smile. Anyway, I think the smile conveys a kind of “be careful, I’ve been where you are,” kind of sentiment.   So far they only have two working suits. It’ll take more time that they have to repair any more.   Doctor Lisa Park makes her first meaningful appearance on the show. She’s been seen and mentioned in the past, but hasn’t had much to do. The Stargate Command wiki refers to her as a scientist, and she clearly has a doctorate. She seems to be an engineer, given the work she’s doing. She was helping Rush repair the life support system back in Air, and here, she’s repairing EVA suits and equipping the away team with ancient tools like a plasma cutter. Of course, there are plenty of engineers with doctorates. I’ve worked with a bunch in my day job.   Young pouts TJ in command while he and Scott are on the planet. That gives us some insight into the chain of command. I would have expected Greer to be the one, but I guess, despite being a medic, TJ has the highest rank. Rush isn’t impressed, but he doesn’t argue. In his own mind, he sees himself as the most important person on this ship, but I don’t think he needs Young to validate him. He cares nothing for military chain of command. Let the soldiers go do what they do, while he gets on with the important stuff.   Is this the first time we get a first-person view of travelling through the wormhole in SGU? I think it is. They’re using the same visual effect that they used in later seasons of SG-1 and Atlantis, although they may have recoloured it. I’m not sure.   The visuals of the gate on the dark icy planet are pretty spectacular to look at, given how dark it is. The glow of the event horizon and the wisps of snow catching the light are quite beautiful.   The first thing they do when they come through is test the ice. Which is smart. Sadly, it’s full of dangerous chemicals. They’re going to have to explore further into the planet to find pure water. Luckily, Eli has invented an anti-grav trolley, like in Star Trek, using ancient technology. It’ll allow them to carry a lot more ice than they could manage in their hands.   Now more bad news. The water level has dropped again. Nobody has been using water, and nobody has been allowed in. So what’s happening to all the water?   They’ve ruled out a leak in the system, which only leaves one option. Someone, or something, is stealing the water.   Young and Scott are a long way from the gate but still haven’t found any usable ice. This seems a little familiar. The expedition to the desert planet went a similar way. They had to travel a long way from the gate to eventually find what they were looking for. And this makes perfect sense. A planet is a big place. The ship shows there is water somewhere on the planet, but it may not be right next to the gate.   TJ sees the wispy wind thing, and it mimics her face, which is creepy but cool. There is clear intelligence behind it. Meanwhile, Spencer has been hoarding food and water, so they dump him in the brig for Young to deal with when he gets back. Remember, he’s been a bit of a loud-mouth problem since the beginning. He was one of the ones who cornered Eli, believing that Young and Rush were hiding things from the rest of the crew. He’s also the one who tried to incite a riot when they were holding the lottery when they thought the ship was gonna burn up in a star. The water still doesn’t come close to explaining the losses, though. I think TJ is already suspecting the wind monster.   Good news, though. Young and Scott have found a frozen waterfall. It’s pure. They can carve it up and haul it back to the gate.   Greer is searching everyone’s quarters for stolen rations. Chloe understands why this is necessary and doesn’t complain. Franklin is pretty annoyed when he sees it, though. He was the one spreading his conspiracy theories to Volker earlier.   Eli’s response is pretty amusing when TJ shares what she saw. Tiny alien organisms that fly around in a cloud. Rush just takes it at face value and nods like it’s another day in the office. But these are Eli’s first aliens. He’s never encountered a Goa'uld, a wraith, an asgard, a Nox or a Reetou. So he’s a little freaked out. Again, this is logical. Psychological realism. And he deals with it the only way he would - as a sci-fi geek like the rest of us. He references a movie. “What if they start bursting out of our chests?” I’d probably try to calm myself in the same way.   Rush thought Scott was delirious when he saw them on the desert planet, but now, he freely admits that he was wrong. I like that about Rush. For all his faults and his arrogance, he is capable of admitting he was wrong. He wouldn’t be worth anything as a scientist if he couldn’t do that.   There’s a nice little moment between TJ and Rush. He acknowledges she’s in charge, and she says she wants his advice. This whole thing is quite outside her area of experience.She’s handling it pretty well. I wonder if she’s ever had to be in a position of command before.   Gorman spots the alien cloud and shoots at it with a pistol. Pretty silly thing to do. OF course, it does nothing to hurt the cloud, but it senses hostile intent and attacks the guy. Hundreds of little creatures, the size of a grain of sand, attacking you, ripping apart your skin. It looks like a horrific way to go.   But he’s apparently not dead. TJ is treating him. They’re not sure if he’ll come to or not.   They seem to have a good system for unloading the sled so they can get it back through the gate as quickly as possible.   Rush and Eli have a significant disagreement about how to deal with these creatures, and what to tell Young about them. I’m afraid I have to side with Rush on this one. They desperately need the ice. That’s vital. There’s not a whole lot that Young can do on the ship that isn’t already being done.   Greer is ready to go hunt down the cloud and kill it with a flamethrower (Assuming that does any good). Eli seems to kinda be on the same page. TJ thinks the cloud may have acted in self-defence, which of course, it did. I think they all need to take a deep breath and cool down for a second. IF they go attack those things now they could just make it worse.   Maybe this is the Star Trek fan in me talking, but what they really need to do is understand the creature and try to find a way to communicate. The primary danger it represents right now is the stealing of the water. It’s only ever attacked when provoked.   Attack may become necessary, but they’re a long way from that right now.   Rush seems to understand this.   The aliens can make themselves seem invisible, like vapour. That means there’s a lot more of them on the ship than we realised. And they’re growing exponentially. That’s a big problem.   Now Rush agrees they have to get them off the ship. But he still counsels not to antagonise them.   I find it amusingly ironic that Scott is talking about how maybe they’ll find a planet later on with a lake right next to the stargate because they deserve a break. And at that moment he falls through the ice.   Now this has become a rescue mission.   He’s wedged in so good that Young can’t pull him out. And to make things even worse, the ground starts to shake.   Eli points out that they’re all lying to each other over the radio. Downplaying the severity of their problems. And it’s silly because they all know each other is lying. There’s no reason they can’t be honest about how their situations are, they just need to be wise regarding what they do about it. For example, Young not hurrying back when he needs to be harvesting ice.   Scott’s situation gets worse when another tremor hits and now he’s losing suit pressure.   James tells Chloe the bad news. She thought she’d like to know. Now Chloe joins Rush, Eli and TJ.  That’s actually the last thing anybody needs. She reacts just like you’d expect her to, when she hears Rush suggest that Young might have to leave Scott behind. Of course Young picks up on the truth. The only thing Rush cares about is that the ice makes it to the ship.   Greer traps the cloud in an air-tight room.  They can’t get out. It doesn’t take long for them to get annoyed. They’re starting to escape. Probably cutting through the metal door like they cut through Gormon’s face.   Young and Scott are facing the very real dilemma of when it’s time to leave Scott behind. They both know it may come to that, but Yong hasn’t given up yet. There’s still time to get trying. But they have to think. They need a new approach.   When Scott loses consciousness, Young just reverts to the old plan. Trying to pull him out. I guess with all the rumbling going on, the pressure might have loosened a little. Young managed to wake Scott by talking to him through the radio, and he helped climb out the last bit.  If Scott had passed out from lack of oxygen, I doubt  Young could have woken him just by yelling. It seems a bit unlikely.   TJ is going to use the water as bait to lure the cloud off the ship. There’s a tense moment between TJ and Greer, where she admits that she doesn’t trust him. He’s a little too trigger happy.   They send the bugs though the gate to the ice planet. That’s actually a good place for them, given how much they like water.   As they go, they form the shape of Scott’s face. Maybe a final farewell to him after their encounter on the desert planet. I’ve gotta wonder though, they don’t seem to have been suited for that planet. There wasn’t much water there.   So they’ve solved both their problems just in time before Destiny jumps back into FTL.   Young goes to see Spencer in the brig. He says if you step out of line one more time I’ll have to deal with you. Spencer claims to understand but Greer doesn’t think he does. Do I understand? What exactly is Young saying here? Is he gonna space the guy if he acts up again? Maybe.   The episode closes with the sad acknowledgement that Gormon died from his injuries.   So as far as I remember, this is the last we’ll see of the wind aliens. So here’s a question. Do you think this was the originally planned pay-off of Air part 3, or do you think they had something else in mind? The reason I ask that is that the behaviour of the alien swarm seems very different in this episode. When we first saw them, they seemed highly intelligent, as well as benevolent.. They saved Scott’s life and helped him find the lime he needed.  We also saw they had the ability to telepathically project images into Scott’s mind. Kind of an attempt to communicate perhaps.   In this episode they seemed more animalistic. Their only concern seemed to be reproduction and the consumption of water.   But that raises another question in my mind. Was the swarm actually responsible for the visions? Is it possible there was another alien presence on that desert planet? In air Part 3 we saw the swarm spin around in the sand and draw up the water that woke Scott. But perhaps the swarm was being controlled by something else. Something much more intelligent.   Our characters will be experiencing some powerful forces as the story continues, so who knows. We may never get the answers now.   That was a good episode. A good solid science fiction story. Honestly, there are very few, if any, episodes of this show that I don’t like.   I think this is the last of the survival stories we’ll have for a while. We’ll be moving into a new phase of Stargate Universe from here. Well next week we’ll be looking at the episode Earth, which does some interesting character stuff, and serves as our first “Will they get home” episodes. Let’s see if SGU can do a better job with this concept than Star Trek Voyager generally did.   Please consider giving this podcast a review on iTunes. Even if you listen elsewhere. I’m an android guy myself, but iTunes reviews are especially helpful to podcasters. And if you are an iPhone user, it’s apparently really easy to do directly from your phone.   Have a great two weeks. Live long and prosper. Make it so.  

In the third part of the pilot of Stargate Universe, we follow our characters to an alien planet where they search for much-needed material to repair the scrubbers on Destiny. If they fail, everyone will die of asphyxiation. But there may be other life on this world. Is it helpful or hostile?   News mentioned in this episode * The passing of Mira Furlan * Sir Patrick Stewart's Critics Choice Super Award * Star Trek Lower Decks available outside of North America. ----more---- Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars And I am a Nerd.   This is episode 52 of the podcast. Today we’re talking about the Stargate Universe episode “Air Part 3”.   There’s been a bit going on in the nerd world lately, that I want to mention.   And sadly, I have to start with the heart-breaking passing of Mira Furlan, who played Delenn on Babylon 5 and Rousseau on Lost. She was only 65 years old. So many of the Babylon 5 actors have gone before their time. I learned about this just last night and it really hit me. I am a huge Babylon 5 fan. One of the things that made the show so great was the fantastic characters, jointly created by writer J Michael Straczynski along with some truly amazing actors. Mira Furlan was one of those actors. I’ll always remember her for her passionate speeches as Delenn. The character was tender, loving, but also as tough as they come. There was a great deal of Furlan in Delenn. JMS wrote the character in a way to help Furlan express many feelings she had about her homeland of Yugoslavia which was going through all kinds of political turmoil.   My condolences go out to her husband, her family, and all those who loved her, which definitely includes her Babylon 5 family.   In happier news, I want to acknowledge Sir Patrick Stewart for winning the Critics Choice Super award for Best Actor in a Science Fiction/Fantasy Series, for his role on Star Trek Picard.   And just a reminder that Star Trek Lower Decks is finally available to watch, legally and ethically, outside of North America. All 10 episodes are streaming on Amazon Prime Video. While I’ve had most of the big moments of the series spoiled, I’m still enjoying going through and watching the episodes for myself.   And for those watching this podcast on youTube, just a reminder that I recorded the bulk of this episode before I decided to do live action video for the youTube version, so you won’t be seeing my face as I discuss the show. All back to normal next time. The description on Gateworld reads Lt. Scott leads a team to a desert planet to locate a mineral capable of fixing Destiny's life support system. Chloe visits her mother on Earth.   This episode was WRITTEN BY: Brad Wright & Robert C. Cooper DIRECTED BY: Andy Mikita And it first aired on the 9th of October 2009   So the team emerges through the gate onto a desert planet, but very different looking to Abydos. This is clearly a location shot and looks so much better than anything they did on SG1. Eli steps through and looks at his surroundings. An alien planet in a whole other galaxy. He smiles and says “cool.” Of course he does. I would too. I’d take a moment to appreciate the enormity of it, but he doesn’t let it distract him either.   Meanwhile, SCott orders them to try dialing the gate back to the ship. Again, very wise. They want to make sure they can get back.   There isn’t a DHD but they have a hand-held device they likely found on the ship. So good news. There is evidence of limestone on this planet. This whole dessert was once an ocean that probably supported life. Very different life than anything they’ve ever seen before.   One thing SGU does really well is it makes space feel more alien.  It also feels like this show is more grounded in real science. Certainly what the geologist is doing feels authentic and not technobabble-ish.   Young is gonna use the stones to report in. Colonel Talford, who was evacuated from Icuras by the Hammond is waiting by the stones. He wants to be the one who is connected. You see, the two people swap bodies, so Young appears in Talford’s body back on Earth, but Talford appears in Young’s body on the Destiny. Deep down, I think Talford wanted to out there on the alien ship. But he missed out. I do feel sorry for Talford suddenly finding himself in a broken body with the pain of broken ribs.   Chloe has also used the stones to visit earth so she can tell her mother the sad news about her father.   The way they do the stones thing, is the same wy they did it back on SG1. The actor who is playing the soul within the body is the actor you see, but he or she is wearing the clothes of the person they replace.   Young points out that these are the wrong people for the expedition. Those who are stuck on the ship are not qualified. O’Neill can sympathise, but ultimately, he reminds Young that he wasn’t qualified when he first went through the gate to Abydos. They’ve sent hundreds of people through the gate to various planets, and none of them have been qualified. Humanity are in way over their head. They always have been. But they’ve come such a long way since SG1 season 1.   Franklin thinks they should be checking out the other planets in range. Rush is still convinced the solution is on this planet. And he has good reason to think that. Chloe’s Mum probably already had security clearance to know about the Stargate program. But it still must be confronting to see your daughter wearing another person’s face. She’s not handling it very well. She’s chugging whiskey before Chloe can even tell her that her dad is dead. But then she breaks down when she learns the full extent of it. And the power of that scene moves me pretty deeply. Very well done.   Talford, and the other scientist from Earth, who is currently lending her body to Chloe, agree with Franklin that they should try to get past the locks on the other planets. Brody isn’t convinced. There has to be a good reason why they’re locked out. But Talford makes it an order. If there are good reasons, he wants to know what they are. And that’s fair enough, but it’s still a big risk.   And now we get our first exploration of the theme of how you treat somebody elses body when you’ve living in it. Johansen wants Talford to rest, because Young’s body needs to heal. Talford wants to push through with painkillers. He feels they need him here. But that’s not his body he’s abusing. We’ll continue to explore this idea through the series. But Johansen tricks him by giving him a sedative she shouldn’t have had to waste, just so Young and return to a healthy body. Scientist lady isn’t impressed. But I see why Johansen made the call, and she stands firmly behind it. You don’t want to press this woman on her medical ethics. She won’t back down.   Rush is concerned that if they don’t slow down, they’ll never be able to keep up the pace on the way back. Greer, cocky as ever, is convinced he can.It’s a tough call. They need to find the limestone, wherever it is, but they also need to get back to the stargate alive, before the time runs out.   And that’s when Scotts starts seeing things. A syringe wisp of sand twirling around. Is it just a natural phenomenon or something else? As they leave, the wind seems very interested in the chemicals Rush used to test the sand. It appears there is some intelligence behind it.   Both teams keep testing, and keep failing.  And that’s when the second team decide to mutiny. Franklin has found an override to allow them to dial the other planets in range. Even Palmer is agreeing with Franklin now. They make a couple of reasonable points to consider, but they’re still stupid. And wrong.   Rush on the other hand, is smart enough to know he can’t go on any further. So he tells Scott to go on without him. And Scott is still seeing the swirling wind. But can he be sure he’s not losing his mind due to heat and dehydration? He tests it by pouring some water and watching the wind go investigate the water. But then he sees a human face in the sand. Her knows that can’t be real.   There’s a nice character scene as Rush and Greer confgront a few prejudices they have about each other. Rush assumes Greer is poor, and Greer assumes Rush is rich. It seems Rush is right but Greer is wrong.    Franklin has managed to open the gate. They’re gonna take the remote control, stranding everyone else on the planet. Palmer and the solder go through, but Greer arrives in time to shoot Franklin. They are half way through the countdown. If Scott hasn’t turned back by now, he’ll never make it to the gate before Destiny jumps away. Only problem is, he hasn’t turned back. He’s still looking for limestone.   Now a priest is following Scott around the desert.   And we get another little moment of humour when Eli says “I have a gun.”   Young is back on the ship and Rush has taken Franklin back to Destiny for medical treatment.   So we get a flashback. Scott in a church, crying and confessing his failure to the priest. Scott’s parents died in a car crash when he was only 4. He was raised by this priest, but he drank himself to death when Scott was just 16. Scott thought that he had a religious calling, but he’s gotten a girl pregnant, and she’s not going to have the baby. He feels he has failed God. I’m not sure why exactly the wind creature chose this memory to make Scott re-live,  but maybe it’s a way of encouraging him not to give up, showing him that life can go on even after mistakes. Anyway, it stirs up the sand, making some water bubble up to wake Scott. He sees the limestone, tests it, and it’s good. He’s found what they need. Now he just needs to collect it and get back to the ship,    Eli can’t make contact with Palmer and the soldier. We’ll never hear from them again. They’re gone. Whatever danger existed on that planet, it’s taken them. IT seems Destiny was right to lock out that planet after all. I kinda like the way they did this. It would have been interesting to see them meet their demise, but there’s something mysterious about just never knowing.   For all his faults, Greer is very loyal. He’s not gonna leave Scott out there on his own. He goes back for him. How he has the physical stamina for what he does in this episode is beyond me. He ends up walking this distance 4 times.   3 minutes on the clock, and scott and greer are still not back. The rescue team have given up and returned to the ship. No point all of them getting stranded on the planet too.   Eli can see them on the scanner, butr they’re not gonna quite make it.  This is a really tense climax. They build up some great tension. Rush had a brilliant idea. He tells Eli to stick his hand into the event horizon of the wormhole. That should prevent it from closing, and hopefully Destiny from leaving. That’s how the stargates in the milky way work, but these are older gates. Will it just chop off his arm? The timer runs out, and the gate is still open. They make it through. What a moment!   We hear a contemporary song play as we see them repair the CO23 scrubberrs with the lime. The air begins to flow, and we see the relief on everyon’es faces as they start to breath properly again.   Chloe brings Scott some water. They share some of their mutual pain. Now I was all set up to talk about how Scott takes advantage of Chloe, how he uses her pain as an excuse to get her into bed. I could have sworn there was a scene at the end of this episode where they have sex, but it’s not there. We leave with them sitting and talking. Let’s face it, in his condition, Scott’s not up for anything physical right now. So I suppose I’ll have to leave the discussion of that for when it actually happens. Probably in the next episode. It’ll be interesting to see if my opinions of their relationship changes.   Anyway, the final shot shows some kind of alien shuttle that was docked with Destiny lift off and fly away. Oooh. Very intriguing.   And that was Air Part 3.   I love this three-part pilot. It’s probably the best opening to a TV show that I’ve ever seen. This is a really strong start. I like how it focussed on survival rather than rushing to introduce a new big bad. It had everything I was looking for in a Stargate show in a post-Battlestar Galactica world. This show clearly took a lot of inspiration in both tone and shooting style from that one, but it never felt like a cheap copy. Stargate Universe set it’s own course, and I’m thrilled to travel the rest of this journey with you all over the coming episodes. --   So we’re now done with the extended pilot and can launch into the rest of season 1. I first saw Air Parts 1, 2 and 3 on a DVD which I bought long before the show started airing in Australia, so for me, there was a big gap between this and the next episode.    Nerd Heaven is now officially back on a fortnightly schedule. That means there will be no episode next week, but I’ll be back on the 8th of February to talk about the episode “Darkness”.   There’s plenty more great stuff to come, so I hope you’ll join me for it.   Until then, have a great two weeks. Live long and prosper.   Make it so.

We begin a new era of the podcast as we look at Stargate Universe. SGU is the third TV series in the Stargate franchise, following SG-1 and Atlantis, not to mention the original 1994 movie. It was a divisive show, and still is to this day. It was a departure from the previous two shows in terms of tone, shooting style and story-telling. But it well-loved by its fans. Today, I delve deep into the first two parts of the 3-part pilot. We'll look at the new characters introduced in this story, and talk about how the pilot grabbed me with both hands and wouldn't let go. Check out Book 1 of Jewel of The Stars for just 99 cents at http://books2read.com/jewel Or get the free prequel story at http://www.adamdavidcollings.com/free ----more---- Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars And I am a Nerd.   This is episode 51 of the podcast. I’m really excited because today, we’re starting something brand new. We’re going to be looking at each episode of Stargate Universe, just as we’ve done with Star Trek Picard season 1 and Star Trek Discovery Season 3.   This is a very divisive show because it was a significant departure from the previous two Stargate TV shows, in terms of tone, shooting style, and story-telling. Stargate Universe was heavily influenced by Battlestar Galactica. It’s a much more character-driven show. It’s more serialised, and it’s got a darker more serious tone.    The show is hardly what you’d call grimdark, but the characters have a lot more flaws than you’d usually expect from Stargate. But in my mind, that just gives them a lot of room for growth.   I’ve loved Stargate from the beginning. I was a big fan of the 1994 film, and I loved both SG-1 and Atlantis. This third series, is actually a great launching on point, so if you decided long ago that Stargate wasn’t for you, it’s worth giving SGU a try.   Now a little note for those of you watching on youTube. I recorded the bulk of this episode a few months back, before I decided to show live action video on the youTube version of the podcast, so for the bulk of this week’s episode, and next week’s episode, you won’t have to look at my ugly mug. Lucky you. But by episode 3, it’ll all be back to normal.   The description on GateWorld reads When a research team is forced to evacuate their secret base, they find themselves on board a derelict Ancient vessel that is many galaxies away from Earth.   This episode was written by Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper It was directed by Andy Mikita And it first aired on the 2nd of October 2009.   Stargate Universe was not well-received by all fans. Many bemoaned the lack of humour, the darker grittier tone, and the more morally ambiguous characters. But let me be very clear about this. Not everyone disliked the show. Many of us loved it, and still consider it our favourite Stargate show to this day. And I’m talking people who loved SG1 and Atlantis.   My first introduction to the show was the first three episodes edited together into an extended pilot movie on DVD. It would be months, maybe a year, before I would get to see the rest of season 1.   It’s hard to put into words just why I liked this show so much, but this three-part pilot really grabbed me with both hands and wouldn’t let go. The gritty realistic tone of the show just felt like a breath of fresh air to me. And the wonder of them being on this ancient spaceship so far from home, with no idea what it was all about, that captures my imagination.   I love the character focus. SG1 and Altantis both followed a similar pattern in terms of their characters. They both had a four-person team who went through the gate, plus a command and support staff back at their home base.   Universe broke way out of this mold. These people are not the best of the best. They’re not all military. They’re definitely not supposed to be on this ship. In that sense, I get quite a Farscape vibe from the show. These people are not a crew, they’re a collection of people who have been forced together under unusual circumstances and forced to live and struggle together. So, of course, there’s going to be conflict. Add to that, Colonel Young is no Jack O’Neill. He may not be that great an officer, and he admits this himself. But, he tries. He really does. And we see a lot of growth in the character over the two seasons. And Doctor rush, well, he’s brilliant, but a very very flawed man. Seriously, I eat this stuff up. It’s great. But let’s actually look at this episode.   It begins in space. A ship jumps out of hyperspace and slowly approaches the camera as the credits roll.  We’ve never seen a ship like this before, but we’ll soon come to know her as destiny.  You get to see a whole lot of detail on this ship as the camera zooms in. It’s nice to see a Stargate show in high definition. It’s all pretty ominous. The ship is deserted. But then we pan into the gate room and see the gate spinning. Then the wormhole engages and people start flying out of it. It’s a mysterious beginning. WE have no idea what it’s all about. This first episode makes very effective use of non-linear story-telling. We keep flashing back and forth between the destiny and the earlier stuff that explains how our characters got here.    At this point we’re wondering about these people. This is not your typical SG team. We’ve got military, some guy in glasses dressed as a civilian, and a teenager in a red tshirt. The opening makes us hungry to know more.   But we can tell straight away there is something ominous about Doctor Rush. Everyone else is panicking. But he’s looking around at this ship with a quiet lust and a dark satisfaction.   The last one to come through is Colonel Young. He hits his head badly and passes out after placing Lieutenant Scott in charge. We won’t see him, other than in flashbacks, until the second part when he wakes up.   The episode does a good job of showing visually, that is this a much older stargate. Earlier technology. The whole gate spins, which is different. And when the wormhole closes, it vents out all this steam, as if the gate struggles to cool itself.   The ship jumps back into hyperspace but we have no idea what’s going on at the time. We just see a weird stretching effect on the picture, and the characters react with the same confusion we do.   Then we flashback to Eli playing a video game. He solves a difficult puzzle. And the next thing you know, Jack O’Neil is knocking on his door with Doctor Rush. It seems they embedded a top-secret problem in the game and Eli solved what nobody else could. Lucky him.   I love Jack’s reactions here when Eli disbelieves them and is hesitant to sign the non-disclosure agreement. Jack’s got no time for this. He can just beam Eli up to the ship. No worries. This is a risk, of course. But I guess, if he still doesn’t sign, nobody is gonna believe him. But I think Jack knows people well enough to know he’ll sing.   This ship is the Hammond, named after the late General Hammond. WE learn a little about Eli. We know he’s not unemployed because he’s lazy. He’s a genius, but his mother has health issues that require him to look after her.   The ship is leaving orbit to travel to another planet. But Eli would at least like some pants before they leave.   And this is a good reminder that while this show is much more dramatic and serious than SG1 or Atlantis, it DOES have humour. This line from Eli is pretty funny and nicely in line with the type of humour we often got from Jack O’Neill.   There’s a nice sequence where Eli watches a bunch of training videos, hosted by none other than Dr. Daniel Jackson. This is a good way to get up to speed with all things stargate, both for Eli and for the audience, who may not have watched the previous shows.   We also get some important backstory. Ancient ruins were found on an alien planet two years ago. There, they found a 9 symbols address. We know that gate addresses within the local galaxy contain 7 symbols. 8 symbol addresses call gates in another galaxy, like an area code. But the stargate has nine chevrons. So what is the meaning of the ninth symbol? Nobody has ever managed to successfully dial a 9-symbol address.   Eli gets to call his mum on the phone. He tells her he’s doing some top-secret work for the air force. She is up on her feet, walking around the house, and it looks like she’s wearing a uniform of some kind. So she’s got a job. So I’m confused as to the nature of her sickness, and why it prevents Eli from pursuing his career. It seems if he got a job, he’d be able to help pay for her medical expenses. Anyway, the air force are going to take care of him while he’s away.   And he meets Chloe for the first time. She’s the only other person on this ship his age, and I think he immediately notices that she’s quite an attractive young woman. He’s surprised to find out he’s quite the celebrity on this ship. Anyway, these two characters are immediately pretty good together.   Then we jump back to the present. Eli and Rush discover they’re on a spaceship. Travelling faster than light, somehow, but not through conventional hyperspace. Rush has identified the ship as being ancient technology. Not only meaning it was built by the aliens we call the ancients, but that it is old. Really old.   And that’s when they notice the air is thin. The life support system is failing on this ship. And that’s totally believable. How many millions of years has it been flying through space?   We meet Colonel Young through a flashback talking to his wife before he left to go on this mission. His career with the SGC is putting a lot of stress on his marriage. He’s always off-world and he can’t even tell her about it. It’s obvious pretty early on that Colonel Young is not cut out of the same heroic mould as O’Neil, Shepherd and Mitchell.    Our introduction to Scott comes with him having sex with a female officer in a storage room. Real classy Scott. It’s not always fair to judge people based on first impressions, but I have to say, this scene really colours the way I see his character throughout the show.   Eli, Chloe, her father, the senator, and Rush arrive on the planet that houses Icarus base. The stargate on this planet doesn’t accept incoming wormholes, which is why they had to come here on a ship. It’s a plot convenience so we could have the scenes on the Hammond.   The puzzle Eli solved was the problem Rush has been working on for ages. He’s trying to figure out how to dial the 9 chevron address. Rush has been working on it for ages, and Eli has solved it. Except it still doesn’t work. This gate is powered by the planet’s core itself. Getting the energy output just right is the challenge.   While rush keeps trying to solve it, Eli is invited to a special dinner. And he’s happy to attend. Meanwhile, we get a hint of Rush’s backstory. There was a woman who was in his life. Judging by his tears, she’s probably dead.   Senator Armstrong is pretty upset about them being on this ship and tries to order Scott to get them back to earth right away. But sometimes, you can’t just order things to be the way you want them. Rush is trying to get life support back online, but Eli doesn’t trust what he’s doing. And emotions are very high. Grier is ready to shoot him. Especially given he blames rush for them being on the ship in the first place. It’s a tense scene. In the end, the button does nothing, good or bad. I wasn’t a fan of Grier at the beginning. He comes across so cocky. So sure of himself. He loves himself just a little too much. Of course, he’ll grow on me as the season progresses.  And he was actually in the brig back on Icarus. He was only just released because Icarus base is under attack by the Lucian alliance. And this is where we see that Samantha Carter is still in command of the Hammond. I believe she left Atlantis to take up this post.   This episode has a lot to do. In between all that is happening, it has to set up the backstory of a large cast of characters. Certainly a bigger cast than any stargate show before it. We meet Johansen and Camille. Johansen, the medic on the ship was actually planning to leave to the stargate program before all this happened. And Camille is a civilian representative of the IOA, an international group that oversees the stargate program. It’s nice to see the pyramid ships and death gliders in this first episode. They’re a remnant of SG1 and the milky way galaxy. So we won’t be seeing them moving forward. Rush is desperate to figure out this nine symbol issue now. This planet has unique properties. They may not be able to get the address to work anywhere else, and this bombardment could literally cause the planet to blow up. This is Rush’s last chance to realise his life’s work. They figure out, if this is not a power problem, maybe it’s an issue with the address. Maybe they’re using the wrong point of origin because the gate was meant to be dialled from somewhere else. The gate is supposed to be dialling Earth to evacuate the base, but Rush cancels it so they can try dialling his 9 symbol address instead. He just some justification for this beyond his own personal selfish need to complete his work. He says they can’t risk dialling earth. The energy of the explosions, if the core goes could be devastating if it travels through the wormhole. And that’s a fair point. But is there really a risk of that, or is it just a convenient excuse for Rush? As young says, he could have dialled somewhere else, anywhere else in the milky way.   And it works. The address connects. Whatever it leads to, they've established a connection.   In the end, they have to go through the wormhole to wherever it leads. Because anywhere is better than here. The planet is about to blow.   Rush finds a starmap detailing the ship’s journey. It began at Earth. IT left the galaxy, travelled past pegasus, past galaxy after galaxy. It’s impossibly far away. Several billion lightyears from home. I got chills when I first watched this and realised just how far away they were.   Most of the people on base have to evacuate through the gate. But Colonel Talford beams up to the Hammond and remains in the milky way galaxy.   And the planet blows up, taking the Lucian alliance ships with it.   Back on Earth, Jack is working at the Pentagon, as he has since he left the day-to-day running of the SGC. Walter is there with him. Not at the SGC. Together, Carter and O’Neill realise that nobody came through the gate to earth. So where did they go?   Which takes us right back to the beginning of the episode, where they first came through the gate onto the ship. And that’s the end of part 1.   So they’re gonna explore the ship, looking for whatever they can find. Scott is taking charge. I like how they acknowledge that this ship is really old and there could be parts that are damaged or dangerous.   And then he looks at the woman he was having sex with in the closet and says “You’re James, right?” Ouch. She gives him a death stare and says “Yes, Lieutenant.” Scott has had her, and now he’s ready for his next conquest. We’ll see who that is later. I really feel for James in this moment. He’s clearly trying to pretend he doesn’t really know her, but it feels more than that, like he’s just brutally tossed her out. Of course, nobody is buying it. Grier can see exactly what’s being said here, and what’s not.   Scott finds a door he can’t open. He orders Eli to open it. The other side is a room open to vacuum. There’s a big hole in the bulkhead. Another great reminder of how old and un-maintained this ship is. It’s a dangerous place.   Meanwhile, Rush gets out a device. One part of it might be familiar, the stone. Yes, this is an ancient communication stone, like the one that first sent Daniel and Vala’s minds into the Ori galaxy back in SG1 season 9. Although the base plate is human technology, which is interesting.   This device allows two people to swap bodies across un-imaginable cosmic distances. This was a very cool addition to Stargate Universe. It allows the crew, stranded on destiny, countless galaxies away, to communicate with people back home on Earth. Even have little visits home. And we get a little cameo from Doctor Lee who appeared in both SG1 and Atlantis. Apparently, like most of the former SGC staff, he’s now posted at the Pentagon in Washington with Jack. I can’t help but wonder if the SGC is till operating in Chyanne Mountain. Remember, last we saw of Atlantis, it was on Earth, and Pegasus gates take precedence over milky way gates. Meaning Atlantis could be the new SGC. We don’t know if the city ever returned to Pegasus. We know there were plans for it to happen in stories that were never shot, but in terms of on-screen canon, it’s a total mystery.   So Rush swaps bodies with Doctor Lee and is effectively now standing in a room in the pentagon.   After his conversation, which you’ll notice we don’t actually see, he goes and informs everybody that there is no hope of rescue. The only means to dial this ship from the milky way galaxy was destroyed. And then he says “in light of my knowledge and experience, General O’Neill has placed me in charge.”   What do you think was really said between Rush and O’Neill?   I don’t think they ever outright say it in this episode, but it becomes pretty clear as the season goes on that Rush is outright lying about being put in charge. He seems pretty hesitant to allow senator Armstrong to use the stones himself. But the good senator is not in good shape.   So Camille doesn’t recognise Rush’s authority. As the only IOA representative on the ship, she probably feels she should be in charge.   Most people want to focus on getting home. Rush says that may not even be possible. And he IS right. There’s no known way home right now. Their primary focus needs to be making this ship habitable and safe. That will keep them alive in the immediate term. But Rush has his own reasons for not wanting to find a way home. He’s spent his entire career trying to get here. Going home is the last thing he wants. And as we get to know him better, we’ll learn that he’s not above putting his own needs before the needs of everybody else.   Scott is able to salvage a situation that on the brink of turning into a riot. Colonel Young has put him in charge of all military personnel. They are required to follow his orders. And, as he says, if anybody else gets out of line, we’ll lock you down. Because they can. And this is the kind of “push people around because we have big guns” mentality that I don’t really like about the military. You see it in the movie Avatar, and you sometimes see it here. But I’m not sure it’s representative of the real military. Real-world military people are there to serve. And I think most of them probably take that responsibility very seriously. I don’t think they would naturally throw their weight around unless there was a real cause for it.   Anyway, Scott has Rush’s back for now, because he knows they need him, but he warns Rush to try dialling the gate back to earth. He already knows Rush has his own agenda.   Colonel Young finally wakes up. Johansen is treating him. She brings him up to speed on the situation. When he learns that Rush claims to be in charge, he won’t have a bar of it. But he can’t do much because he can’t feel his legs. Johansen thinks it’s temporary, but she’s not a doctor as such, she’s a military medic. We learn that Johansen’s tour of duty had ended. She had a scholarship to study something. She shouldn’t even be here. Bad luck. If only she’d left Icarus a day earlier.   We see a Kino for the first time.  A little ball floating down the corridor. Eli found them. They’re remote control flying drones. Eli named them, after a Russian rock band, I think. He says “after the Russian..” and then Scott cuts him off. But a google search for Kino Russian leads us to this band. I’m not sure if there’s any significance to flying cameras, or if Eli just likes their music. If anybody knows more, let me know in a comment or an email to adam@adamdavidcollings.com   Anyway, they have a whole supply on them on the ship. They will prove useful to check out what’s on the other side of the stargate. Much like a MALP.   Rush has figured out that the CO2 scrubbers are failing. Which makes a lot of sense given how many millions of years old this ship is. I really like that they spend so much time in early season one dealing with stuff like this. Just struggling for the necessities of life on this ancient ship. Unlike SG1 and Atlantis, which were quick to introduce the new “Big Bady guy” this show takes a different tack.   Senator Armstrong has a real problem. He’s badly bruised. If he takes his heart medication, he’ll bleed internally. But if he doesn’t take them, he could die anyway. Chloe takes the pills, making the decision for him.   They have some serious problems related to air. First of all, they have to seal off all the leaks, to prevent loss of atmosphere. If they can do that, they’ll have a day or two before the build-up of CO2 kills them, due to the failing scrubbers. They need to replace the failed compound that treats the air. The main air leak turns out to be one of the shuttles. There’s a problem with the shuttle door. It can only be closed from inside the shuttle. Rush is quick to say “somebody needs to go in there and close it”. Thus, sacrificing their life. Of course, you know he won’t volunteer to do it himself.   Eli has started vlogging using the Kino. Scott finds this annoying, but Eli points out this needs to be documented. Maybe someday, someone will find the ship and know what happened to them all. He’s right. But he’s possibly having a little too much fun with it. But why not? Let the guy have a little fun. He’s probably gonna be dead soon anyway. Eli’s interest in film-making will continue throughout the series.   Anyway, Scott’s point is that they should be focusing on staying alive, not leaving messages behind for after they’re dead. They have a dilemma to solve. Who is going to give their life to seal the door? Rush is immediately coldly pragmatic about it. He looks at the list of people, noting those who are injured. He wants to find out which ones have valuable skills that could come in useful. I mean, he’s not wrong. And yet, he’s suggesting they find the expendable, he’s reducing people’s lives to an assessment of how useful they are to survival on this ship. That’s cold. REALLY REALLY cold.   Young’s approach is to sacrifice himself. He can’t ask anybody to make a sacrifice like this (Although military personelle do sometimes order their people to their death). Scott won’t let Young sacrifice himself. He’s the leader and they need him.    While everybody is arguing about it, Senator Armstrong leaves his room, armed with a gun. He’s going to do it. He’s probably going to die from his injuries anyway. He’s gonna close the door.   This is a heart-breaking moment as Chloe runs through the corridor screaming “Dad No!” as he gives his life to save everybody else. It’s pretty powerful stuff.   What other show has ever portrayed a politician as so noble a hero. This breaks all the stereotypes.   So in her grief, Chloe goes and starts hitting Rush. She blames him, not entirely fairly. But his attempt to comfort her quickly turns into a justification of his innocence. Why none of this is his fault. Rush admits that as human beings, everyone is invaluable. Which I agree with, but I’m not sure he really believes that.   Young is back on his feet now, against medical advice, but he needs to help solve their problems. He asks Camille to keep people calm. She’d be good at that.   Scott spends a little time sitting with Chloe, trying to comfort her. He wants to hear about the senator. “The man died so I could live. I’d like to know more about him.” I get on Scott’s case a bit in this episode, and I’ll have some more negative things to say about him, but I like this moment. I think, in this moment, he genuinely cares and wants to help Chloe. Anyway, it’s a nice character scene. Rush has learned the name of the ship is destiny. He’s also learned that it was sent out un-manned and automated. The plan was that they’d eventually use the gate to get to the ship once it was far enough out. They never did. They probably learned to ascend before it happened. Ascension, of course, is a process the ancients learned millennia ago, where they transform from physical beings into beings of energy and thought. They go to a higher plane of existence. We learn a lot about this in SG1 and Atlantis.   At this point, I’m wondering about how all this fits together in the timeline. So I’ve looked it up. The ancients were originally known as the Alterans. They came from another galaxy. A group of them left that galaxy, after a big divide between them and others who called themselves the Ori. Between 50 and 30 million years BC, the eventually settled in the milky way galaxy, choosing to live on Earth as the first form of humanity.  It was after this that they launched Destiny, before they had even seeded the milky way with stargates Later, they built Atlantis and left for the Pegasus Galaxy. So there was at least 20 million years between the launch of Destiny, and the time the Ancients ascended. In all that time, they never gated to the ship. Had it still not reached the location where they wanted to board, or were there other reasons?   We still don’t know why the ancients launched the ship. Not yet.   Riley has found the address to dial the gate back to earth. It wasn’t hard to find. Young assumes Rush already knew but didn’t tell anyone. They don’t know the point of origin so they’ll have to use trial and error. They have 36 tries, but they could run out of power before they find the right combination.   The issues become moot when the ship drops out of FTL and the gate starts dialling on its own. This is part of what the ship is programmed to do. Rush believes the ship has detected a stargate on a planet nearby that may have what they need. The ancients sent other unmanned ships out before destiny to seed planets with stargates, so that the crew could easily visit planets once they arrived.   So this gives the show a familiar yet different concept. Destiny is on auto-pilot. It flies from system to system. There are stargates out there, which means the characters can still go through the gate and explore, just like any Stargate show, except the gates are much shorter range than those in the milky way and pegasus. And Destiny leaves orbit after a certain time limit, which adds a ticking-clock element.   This all makes it feel familiar and yet fresh. I love it.   Rush has made the reasonable assumption that whatever they need is on the other side of that wormhole. The kino tells them about the atmosphere of the planet on the other side. There are four other gates in range. Rush is convinced this is the planet they need to look at, because this is the one the ship chose.   So Young assembles a team. Palmer the geologist. Franklin, a civilian scientist, Rush, Scott, And Eli wants to go too.   Rush and Scott are both hesitant about Eli going. He’s not trained for this. But Young points out that in order to survive, everyone, regardless of training or position, are going to have to step up. Young needs to know what Eli is made of.   Eli really is the heart of this show. He’s the character we can identify with. He’s a normal guy, and he’s a fellow nerd. Plus, he’s the good moral down-to-earth bloke amongst all the melodrama of the other characters. I really like him.   And that’s where part 2 ends, as they step through the gate.   As I said, I originally watched this 3-parter as one big movie, but I think I’ve yabbered on for long enough. We’ll save part 3 for the next episode. I should be out getting some steps for my walk to mordor challenge, but it’s so hot at the moment. Summer doesn’t usually hit Tasmania until January, and it’s definitely hit the last couple of days. Maybe I should swim to Mordor.   I will do another Walk To Mordor episode some time, but probably not for a little while.   If you’re new here, you might be interested to hear about my book series, Jewel of The Stars. Just like Stargate Universe, it focuses on a group of people trapped on a spaceship, who weren’t planning for a long-term voyage. Unlike Destiny, it’s a luxury cruise ship. They were only supposed to be on board for a week, but while they were away Earth fell to an alien invasion, so now they can’t go home. They’re travelling through un-explored space. They may be the last free humans in the galaxy.   The series is structured like a TV series. Seasons of 6 episode. Each episode is a 30,000 word novella, so while shorter than a novel, it’s still a decent read. There is an on-going story arc through the whole series, but I aim to make each book a satisfying experience in its own right.   You can check out the first episode for just 99 cents by going to books2read.com/jewel and that’s the number 2. Or you can get a free prequel story by going to AdamDavidCollings.com/free   I’ll be back next week to talk about Air Part 3. Until then Have a great week   Live long and prosper.   Make it so.  

The executive producer of Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe is back! Robert C. Cooper shares with DialtheGate the full story of how SG-1's "Heroes" came to be, discusses the resolution to the Ori storyline, and begins to touch on his directing career in the franchise with episodes like SGU's "Time." --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Stargate Writer and Executive Producer Robert C. Cooper joins us in a nearly 2-hour-long PRE-RECORDED interview to explore his career with Stargate. We discuss setting up the mythology in "Torment of Tantalus," creating races like the Ancients and Replicators, and take time to delve into his recent project, "Unspeakable." --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Go through the Stargate with Stargate: Atlantis star Torri Higginson and co-creator Robert C. Cooper in this very special double episode.  As many of you may know by now, I am a huge sci-fi fan. But when people ask me Star Trek or Wars. I say neither, Gate. Stargate is one of the most story […] The post Stargate Atlantis: Torri Higginson and Robert C Cooper – Episode 215 appeared first on Talk For Two.

Go through the Stargate with Stargate: Atlantis star Torri Higginson and co-creator Robert C. Cooper in this very special double episode.  As many of you may know by now, I am a huge sci-fi fan. But when people ask me Star Trek or Wars. I say neither, Gate. Stargate is one of the most story […] The post Stargate Atlantis: Torri Higginson and Robert C Cooper – Episode 215 appeared first on Talk For Two.

Grab your vaguely period formal wear because this week we’re joining THE CLUB!!! Directed by Brenton Spencer and written by Robert C. Cooper The Club stars Andrea Roth, Rino Romano, Zack Ward and Kelli Taylor as teens who get frozen in time on Prom by the demonic John(JH Wyman) and are terrorized by evil forces and also a pedo/murderer guidance counsellor played by Kim Coates. Despite some problematic messages about victims of sexual assault and abuse, this movie is very fun and JH Wyman really has a lot of fun in his role of the goofy, sinister demon in a pyramid scheme. We really enjoyed it!

In this episode Donnie talks about the different histories of the Boston Terrier as well as the French Bull Dog. In addition to the health concerns of each dog. Finally, the nature of the two dog breeds is covered. You can find the article to this post at https://www.bostonterriersociety.com/boston-terrier-vs-french-bulldog/ Two of the most popular dog breeds in America are the Boston Terrier and the French Bulldog. They are both adorable, smaller dog breeds, and they easily capture the attention and hearts of everyone who crosses their paths. Yet these two breeds are often confused with each other, and as they are individual in their own respective ways, it's essential to acknowledge and respect their differences. If you are considering adopting one of these breeds, you will want to choose the one who fits best with your lifestyle. Where do the Boston Terrier and French Bulldog differ from each other? Let's take a closer look. Breed Histories The creation and history of both the Boston Terrier and the French Bulldog breeds are quite different from each other and span the Atlantic Ocean. Here are the stories behind the breeds. The Boston Terrier History The Boston Terrier breed was first bred around 1865 in Boston, Massachusetts, making the breed a true American dog. How the breed began lies with a Bostonian named Robert C. Cooper, who purchased a dog named Judge from William O'Brien. It is generally recognized that O'Brien had imported the dog from England, and Judge was a cross between a white English Terrier and an English Bulldog. Once the dog changed owners, he became known as Hooper's Judge. The dog was sturdy, around 32 pounds, and had dark brindle coloring with a white blaze on his face. Judge's head was blocky and square, and he had an even mouth. It is this dog who is considered the ancestor of nearly all true modern Boston Terriers. The Breads Making Up Today's Boston Terrier Judge was bred to a white dog named Burnett's Gyp, nicknamed Kate, who was owned by Edward Burnett. Kate was low stationed, about 28 pounds, had a stocky build, and a square head. From this mating, the path to the modern Boston Terrier was paved. The male dog born to Judge and Kate was not a particularly handsome dog, but he had the personality that the Boston Terrier would become so well known for: gentle and kind. This dog, Well's Eph, was mated to a female called Tobin's Kate, and historians suggest that their offspring were then crossed with the French Bulldog. That crossing formed the foundation of the Boston Terrier breed. Naming the Boston Terrier The Boston Terrier did not carry that name at first. The fledgling breed was called several names, including round heads, bullet heads, Boston Bulldogs, and American terriers. In 1889, a group of 30 owners of the new breed formed the American Bull Terrier Club, and they settled on calling the breed Bull Terriers or Round Heads. Fanciers of the breed loudly objected to these names, so to please as much of the base as possible, the club changed their name to the Boston Terrier Club in recognition of the breed's birthplace. Read more of the article here: https://www.bostonterriersociety.com/boston-terrier-vs-french-bulldog/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/bostonterriersociety/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bostonterriersociety/support

Series PremieresIn the Dark (CW)Blind 20-something Murphy is drifting through life in a haze of drunkenness, and her only friends are her understanding roommate Jess and Tyson, a sweet teenager she met when he saved her from a violent mugging. Murphy's life is turned upside down when, while out for a walk with her guide dog, she stumbles upon what she is certain is Tyson's lifeless body in the alley outside her apartment. When the body disappears by the time the police arrive, and they don't seem inclined to investigate, Murphy clings onto the only thing that can keep her together: figuring out what happened to her friend.Unspeakable (Sundance)Based on the books "Bad Blood" by Vic Parsons and "The Gift" by Andre Picard, "Unspeakable" chronicles the early emergence of HIV and hepatitis C in Canada in the 1980s. It documents the tragedy that resulted in thousands of people who were infected by tainted blood. The blood scandal is one of the largest medical disasters in Canada's history, and it went on to trigger a federal inquiry and landmark lawsuit which resulted in billions of dollars being awarded to the victims. Robert C. Cooper was a victim of this and contracted hepatitis C from tainted blood.Warrior (Cinemax)A crime drama that takes place in the latter half of the 19th century during brutal gang wars in San Francisco's Chinatown, it follows martial arts prodigy Ah Sahm, a Chinese immigrant who arrives in the City of Lights under mysterious circumstances. Once he proves his prowess as a fighter, Sahm becomes a hit man for one of Chinatown's most powerful organized crime families. As he is mentored by the son of the crime family's leader, learning the ins and outs of gang warfare, Al Sahm wins the confidence of brothel madam Ah Toy, eventually revealing to her his true intentions. "Warrior" is based on the writings of martial arts legend Bruce Lee and features a largely Asian cast. Season PremieresChilling Adventures of Sabrina (Netflix)This adaptation of the "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" tale is a dark coming-of-age story that traffics in horror and the occult. In the reimagined origin story, Sabrina Spellman wrestles to reconcile her dual nature -- half-witch, half-mortal -- while standing against the evil forces that threaten her, her family -- including aunts Hilda and Zelda -- and the daylight world humans inhabit. Kiernan Shipka ("Mad Men") leads the cast in the titular role of the show that is based on a comic series of the same name.The Tick (Amazon)In a world where superheroes and villains have been real for decades, Arthur, an unassuming accountant with no superpowers, becomes embroiled in the middle of the battle between good and evil. When he realizes that his city is owned by a global supervillain who was long thought to be dead, he struggles to uncover the conspiracy. As he becomes obsessed with the conspiracy, most people think he's crazy. One person who believes Arthur is a mysterious new ally, The Tick, who is a bizarre blue superhero who may just be a figment of Arthur's imagination.Killing Eve (AMC/BBC America)Eve's life as a spy is not adding up to what she had hoped it would be when she started. She is a bored, very smart, MI5 security officer who is very desk-bound. Villanelle is a very talented killer, mercurial in mood, who clings to the luxuries of her job. Eve and Villanelle go head to head in a fierce game of cat and mouse, each woman equally obsessed with the other as Eve is tasked with hunting down the psychopathic assassin. Sarah Barnett, BBCA president, says, " `Killing Eve' stands out in a sea of scripted stories as refreshingly entertaining and great fun." See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Showrunner Robert C. Cooper (Stargate, Dirk Gently) discusses his powerful new drama Unspeakable, and its incredible journey from pitch to screen. We discuss the process of creating a story spanning decades, and challenges arising from the real-life scandal the show is based upon. You can find the show in Canada through the CBC, and it will also be on Sundance TV.

This month on The BloodStream Podcast we discuss the questions to ask if you are considering participating in a clinical trial and how the US is struggling to think about gene therapy and rare disease drug pricing. Jonathan Hill shares his “A Long Road” story, Debbie de la Riva leads us through the first A Moment For Mental Health segment, and writer, producer, and “Unspeakable” creator Robert C. Cooper joins us for the interview.  All that and more on Episode 34 of The BloodStream Podcast.   Presenting Sponsor: Takeda Latest Ask The Expert Podcast Latest Powering Through Podcast Leave us a review on iTunes:  Help others from BloodStream! Like Segment: 6 Key Questions to Ask When Participating in a Clinical Trial from HemAware A Moment For Mental Health Segment: http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/ Share Segment: Jonathan Hill’s “A Long Road” Interview Segment: Robert C. Cooper Official Website for “Unspeakable” Official Trailer for “Unspeakable” Comment Segment: Drugs that cost as much as a house are on the way to treat rare and devastating diseases. The US is scrambling to figure out how to pay for them   Mama Sue’s Netflix Recs: What The Health Prohibition (miniseries) Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes BloodFeed: https://www.bloodfeed.com Connect with BloodStream: Email mailbag@bloodstreammedia.com Find all of our bleeding disorders podcasts on BloodStreamMedia.com BloodStream Facebook Page BloodStream Twitter Account   Subscribe to BloodStream: iTunes: http://bit.ly/bloodstreamitunes Stitcher: http://bit.ly/bloodstreamstitcher LibSyn: http://bit.ly/bloodstreamlibsyn SoundCloud: http://bit.ly/bloodstreamSC TuneIn: http://bit.ly/bloodstreamtunein Google Play: http://bit.ly/bloodstreamPlay Spotify: http://spoti.fi/2nNPhui  

This week Average Joe is joined by both Ben The Movie Buff and Tiny Tim for another exploration through the shared universe of the Stargate franchise. Our ridiculous news game continues as we end up discussing the creation of a Mattel film studio and the possibility of a shared universe between Barbie, Hot Wheels, and He-Man. Then we travel to the Pegasus galaxy for an exploration of the television series "Stargate Atlantis". Does this spin-off differentiate itself from it's sister show enough to be considered worth watching on television? How does it take the Stargate concept in new directions? Music and audio from "Stargate Atlantis" is the property of Joel Goldsmith, Brad Wright, Robert C. Cooper, Acme Shark, MGM Television, and Sony Pictures Television. Fast Forward and Rewind sound effects used in this episode were created by TeenEditingSpace. Check out his channel on YouTube. Special thanks to Jeremy Eckert for our theme song. Check out our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/batjarpodcast. Invite your friends to like our page! You can contact us at @thebatcookiejar on Twitter or you can send an e-mail to batjarpodcast@gmail.com. 

Lee Hutchison is joined by Joseph Mallozzi, the writer and producer of Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate Universe and creator of Dark Matter. Joseph shares with Lee how he became a writer and his road to working on Stargate SG-1. The writing dynamic and creative process between him and his long term co-writing partner, Paul Mullie.Learning how to become show producers under the guidance of Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright. The exciting challenges and experiences of writing for a franchise like Stargate.Bringing the Stargate franchise to an end at the time with Universe. What it was like to be a writer following the cancellation of Stargate Universe after the 2008 financial crash. Developing Dark Matter and creating the comic book. Showrunning Dark Matter and the environment that he looked to create in the writing room and on set. Finally, what Joseph is working on and what's to come next from his pen. 

Executive producer Robert C. Cooper talks exclusively with GateWorld about Stargate Universe, his upcoming Atlantis episode, and the future of SG-1 DVD movies.

Every television show has a "showrunner" -- one person who sits at the nexus of the writers, directors, cast, crew, and studio and network executives and call the shots. As the showrunners for Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, executive producers Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper make the series happen. GateWorld recently sat down with Wright and Cooper at their home base -- the famed Stargate production offices in Vancouver, British Columbia! Thanks to the generous gift of their time and candor, we are pleased to present the complete interview in this 3-part series. For the first time ever, you can sit in on a conversation about the past, present, and future of the Stargate franchise inside the offices of the shows' creators. In part one of our interview, the executive producers reflect on the two shows' accomplishments in Season Eight and Atlantis's first year, and setting up a new enemy and a new environment for telling stories in Season Nine. (Beware of some minor spoilers for the new season's first three episodes.) They also talk about the very real necessities of science fiction television production, about which viewers are often unaware. GateWorld's interview with Brad Wright and Robert Cooper is available in MP3 audio format for easy listening. Part one about 15 minutes long, and is also transcribed below. You can also download the interview to your MP3 player and take GateWorld with you! Continue to Part 2 >> GateWorld: What is your overall opinion of Season Eight now that it's in the history books? Brad Wright: Season Eight? Robert C. Cooper: I don't remember ... it's a blur! GW: Let me just say that the second half, especially "Reckoning" through "Moebius," is fantastic. We loved it. RC: Thanks. I'll tell you, we felt like we ended the show. We felt like it was the closing of a chapter on Stargate SG-1. BW:: We thought we ended it three times even before that. RC: But this was the real ending! And in fact so much so that in discussing whether we were going to come back and do SG-1 Season Nine or a new show or whatever, we basically -- and the decision was made to do Season Nine -- we decided that regardless of the fact that we're continuing the same series, we're done ending things. We're not going to write another season that leads up to another ending. Season Eight brought startling revelations and conclusions to many storylines, including Anubis, Oma, and Daniel's ascension in "Threads." That's over! Ending the show is over. Because, quite frankly, it seems as though the show will never end. So instead what we decided is we're going to start beginning again. This new season, Season Nine, is much more about opening all kinds of new doors and starting fresh -- not just for the characters but with the storylines. BW:: The truth is it had to be done anyway because the Goa'uld are defeated and because there've been some big cast changes. RC: There's a certain point at which, yes, for some really developed fans who've followed the show from the beginning, "Reckoning" and "Threads" and "Moebius" really paid off a lot of things for the characters and for the plots and made you feel like watching the show for so long was really a satisfying experience. All these things were coming to a nice head and culminating. But also, Season Eight -- again, I think if there was anything wrong with it was it was a little bogged down in all the wrapping up in having to service storylines that had come from before. [It] in some ways alienated a new audience who may have been coming to the network, SCI FI, to watch Atlantis for the first time, tuning into SG-1 and going "Huh? What's going on? Who are those people? What's this storyline?" We couldn't do a long enough "Previously On" at the beginning of every show to explain to new viewers what was happening in this particular episode. GW: They seemed to be getting longer and longer. RC: Well,