“Yo ho ho! or does nobody actually say that?” — the Doctor (soon to be one of my favorite quotes).
Plot summary at Wikipedia (yes, I’m being lazy again but I have an excuse … it’s Mother’s Day).
I thoroughly enjoyed this episode and would give it four stars, possibly more, especially for the dramatic scene between Amy and Rory towards the end and for the pirates! Who doesn’t love a romping swashbuckling tale of the high seas, pirates and sea monsters?
And was I the only one who noticed that the newly inaugurated space pirates first visited the Dog Star aka Sirius?
I think I still prefer Robert Picardo over a supermodel with his signature ‘Please state the nature of the medical emergency.’ But that’s just me.
Next week we might meet the Doctor’s wife or possibly another time lord. Either way, I’m excited and ecstatic to have exceptional science fiction to look forward to each and every Saturday night. Hip Hip Hurray for BBC America!
I had a chip on my shoulder watching Stargate Universe last night. I felt content with last week’s ‘Epilogue’ episode and wished the series could end on the resonance left by it. With only two episodes left this season, the show having been canceled with no possibility of parole, I couldn’t image what the writers, directors and producers could do to salvage the situation. ‘Blockade’ surprised me with good continuity from ‘Epilogue,’ good action, good science and spots of humor that actually made me laugh. Ratings reported Wednesday morning via Gateworld reveal a nine percent drop between ‘Epilogue’ and ‘Blockade.’
SGU: Blockade aired Mon 2 May 2011
I’m being a bit lazy this week, so I grabbed a synopsis of the ‘Blockade’ episode from the Wikipedia article for season two of SGU:
When the Destiny tries to recharge in a star, they are met by drones. Trying another star, they discover the same. Low on power, Eli proposes a risky alternative: recharge the ship in a blue giant star instead which the drones would never expect. In order to accomplish the plan, the crew travel through the Stargate to a nearby planet, which turns out to be another Novus colony that is empty while Eli and Rush stay behind to manually pilot in the ship in the Ancient environmental suits which will protect them from the extreme heat. Doctor Lisa Park stays behind as well to save as many plants as possible from the Destiny garden, but gets trapped when the ship seals it off. The plan works and Destiny recharges, but the dome breaks and Park is flash-blinded before Eli manages to rescue her. On the planet, the crew discovers it to be destroyed by drones and encounter two which they destroy. They learn that thanks to a diversion, many of the people on the planet managed to escape through the Stargate before it was devestated. When a Control Ship shows up, the crew is forced to evacuate a little early, but by that point, Destiny is safe again. The trick won’t work twice however and the drones will likely be waiting next time Destiny tries to recharge.
Eli garnered kudos from me for standing up to Rush several times in this episode. Rush continues to amaze me with his complete lack of humanity. Rush may be a brilliant scientist, but a Vulcan exhibits more compassion than he shows his fellow man, even for people he works closely with on a day-to-day basis in a survival situation. It boggles my mind that Rush can continue to be that callus.
I didn’t buy the Destiny blocking Eli and Rush from opening a door when Park became locked in the garden dome. No logic there in why it would willingly allow the crew to fly it into an extremely dangerous type of star for refueling (without braking or swerving) yet not realize a fragile human was trapped and exposed behind a door it had closed and locked. Why was Destiny thwarting the crew? Was it that desperate to fill up it’s tanks?
The nonverbal interactions between members of the crew intrigued me in light of the relationships revealed among the other crew of ‘future’ Destiny. Volker and Greer in eye combat over Park’s assertion to remain behind to save plants. And Varro leaning away from TJ towards Vanessa James, who we learn via a humorous sidebar, was born in Pittsburgh.
I will rate ‘Blockade’ as a 3.5 to 4 star SGU episode, even though I tire of the drones and the potential mystery they present, the question left unanswered forever if not dealt with next week in the final Stargate episode.
The real treat, this week, announced yesterday and stumbled upon by me while surfing DirecTV channels on my day off, is the week-long tribute to the Stargate franchise in the form of marathons on the Syfy Channel. Follow this link for a full schedule of the rest of the airings of your favorite Stargate episodes.
SGU ends next Monday evening with the final episode ‘Gauntlet‘ – Blocked by drone Command Ships at every star and unable to gate for supplies without alerting the same drones, Destiny must take a stand or be left adrift.
After that … Stargate withdrawal will set in and I’ll have to console myself with more Doctor Who.
The beginning and middle of this episode kept me confused for longer than I like. And the Silents started creeping me out, similar to the Weeping Angels in “Blink” episode, especially when Amy was wondering a deserted orphanage during a night thunderstorm alone. Part of my confusion probably stemmed from the unreliably nature of the narration. Since the characters (including Doctor Who) could not cohesively remember their encounters with the Silents, we experienced what they experienced without much third-person omnipotent viewpoint advantage.
I am not convinced we have seen the last of the Silents, especially if you consider the continuity flashbacks and foreshadowings. I liked the very American response and call to revolution against the Silents that the Doctor engineered and I especially liked the black box at Area 51, but the resolution arrived too quickly for me.
As to the identity of the girl in the astronaut suit, you can find a good discussion ongoing here where I bring up some questions about who the girl might be and who her mother might be, all of which will be answered in Moffat‘s good time.
We (Terry and I) were the proud parents of our number one son, Derek.
We lived with Terry’s dad, in a small ranch on 34th street just shy of the Big Ditch in north Wichita.
I worked for an insurance agency in downtown Wichita, Kansas.
Terry went into business for himself that spring, after Derek was born.
Our only wedding photo (05/01/86)
While searching for something, I stumbled upon our marriage license, ready and waiting for a Justice of the Peace to sign and declare us officially married on May 1st at the Sedgwick County Courthouse.
Meanwhile, in the rest of the world, . . .
Median Household Income (current dollars): $24,897
Unemployment: 7.0%
Cost of a first-class stamp: 22 cents
The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in 1986 was: 93 cents
The Oprah Winfrey Show hits national television. (Not that I ever watch her show, but she is ‘iconic’ to our times).
The Academic American Encyclopedia is available on CD-ROM. It is the first reference work published in this medium.
Nintendo video games introduced in U.S.
The Voyager 2 probe passes Uranus in January, returning images and data on its moon, rings, atmosphere, interior, and magnetic field.
Halley’s comet yields information on return visit (April 10).
The Challenger exploded soon after launch in January, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
Chernobyl was making big headlines in the Spring of 1986.*
I am worried that the next two final episodes of Stargate Universe may stumble after watching last night’s ‘Epilogue‘ episode, the continuation of last week’s ‘Common Descent‘ episode. Ratings were up 27% over last week’s episode and a week later here’s the transcript of the episode.
SGU: Epilogue aired Mon 25 Apr 2011 on Syfy
Destiny and the survivors from the drone-attacked planet, who were actually descendants of the ‘future’ Destiny crew thought lost back during the ‘Twin Destinies‘ episode, arrived at Novus to find it deserted due to a cataclysmic seismic event. The usual suspects take the shuttle down to the surface and find no people and no remains, but do find the archives in a bunker to which the fail to gain access. Matt asked Col. Young if the big guns on Destiny could be used to attempt to breach the bunker and one shot opens the doors to supplies and a vast store of data, two thousand years in the making thanks to Eli’s motto handed down through the Tenarans.
The rest of the episode boiled down to the crews’ fascination with their alternate selves diaries: who died, who got married, who had babies, who didn’t. All except Rush, of course, whose alternate self ‘married’ future Destiny and went down in flames at the end of the ‘Twin Destinies’ episode. Volker achieves a moment of greatness by leaving Rush speechless when driving this point home to the curmudgeonly Futuran ‘Messiah.’
If the series ended now, I could walk away without too much angst. Yes, there are many unanswered questions, but the achievement of the descendants transcends their harsh circumstances and the nay-saying of Rush’s camp so overwhelmingly and so courageously, like true pioneers on the galactic frontier plains, that I almost dread watching the next two episodes. I fear further disappointment and more loose ends never to be resolved.
I will give this episode four stars out of five, because Camille’s speech at the end actually brought a tear to my eye.
Just a few quick words, thoughts and questions about last night’s Doctor Who Season Six premiere ‘The Impossible Astronaut‘ (if you’re looking for a synopsis or re-cap of the episode, click on the episode name link). The Doctor, Amy, Rory and River hop across the pond to late 1960s America, unraveling (without alerting the younger doctor) the mystery surrounding the two hundred year older Doctor’s demise (yes, a bit of a spoiler but it happens within the first few minutes of the episode).
I enjoyed the nostalgic references to the space program (go NASA! to the moon and beyond!) and Nixon (as Doctor Who states ‘so much more happened in 1969 than people remember), but Moffat’s latest aliens didn’t seem as creative as his extremely creepy weeping angels (see the Hugo and BAFTA award winning episode ‘Blink‘ for further creepiness).
And it begs that question, if these aliens have the ability to make you forget them completely after you are no longer looking at them, why would one of these aliens command Amy to tell Doctor Who something? Don’t they realize she’ll forget whatever they told her as soon as she turns her head? Here’s an excerpt from Amy’s conversation with one of the aliens in a White House restroom:
Alien: You will tell the Doctor.
Amy: Tell him what?
Alien: What he must know and what he must never know.
Amy: How do you know about that?
Alien: Tell him.
After which Amy runs gasping from the restroom and immediately forgets what just happened. She did snap a photo of the alien with her cell phone, after she determined that humans forget the aliens as soon as they look away (thanks to a poor woman caught in the conversational crossfire as collateral damage). And was I the only one who that thought the electrifying moaning alien consuming said woman reminded you of Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall‘? Ew.
An intriguing above-average episode of Doctor Who (more than three, probably close to four out of five stars). I’m still having David Tennant withdrawals as I just can’t relate to a Doctor Who played by an actor born just a year before I graduated from high school. I loved having Mark Sheppard, one of my current favorite British (or is that Irish) actors who pops up on many of the shows I watch. The preview for next week’s conclusion entitled ‘Day of the Moon‘ look suitably time-twisty and action packed.
Thank goodness BBC America saved science fiction television from complete extinction. Heaven knows, I can’t count on Syfy for anything except fantasy (because what else do you call WWE or reality TV)?
Destiny is back to falling apart, the breathable air on board needs scrubbing and dodging drones is not nearly as fun as it used to be. Thinking the dead drone might be phoning home, they jetison it, during an ongoing drone attack, destroy it and attempt a feeble launch into FTL flight. Destiny finds a couple of planets, one with a working gate, and one blocked, and Young agrees to drop out of FTL to solve the scrubber situation before everyone suffocates.
The expedition to the planet surface encounter English speaking humans who recognize members of the Destiny party. And no surprise to myself (or Eli), these humans claim to be descendants sixty or so generations removed from the current members of Destiny. And you thought the ‘future’ Destiny crew went through that unstable wormhole into oblivion? Ha!
Everyone but Rush reacted with excitement and interest in the plight of the stranded settlers. A friend of mine at GoodReads connected the dots before me, observing that since Rush remained behind on the ‘future’ Destiny, he sired no offspring (but did foster a philosophic debate of near epic, even Biblical, proportions). This reminded me that the other Rush actually achieved his (or is that their) dream and ‘married’ Destiny … so who knows what kind of offspring might crop up for Rush?
This episode had a bit of everything: some science (time travel), some action (dodging drones and their command ships), some humor (Futura is a font!), some drama (‘ancient’ keno footage from the ‘future’ Destiny survivors original settlement), a bit of mystery (how are these drones finding Destiny?), and of course some political unrest (fostered two thousand years ago by the current uncomfortable philosophical disagreement between Rush and Young which results in a highly polarized schism developing among their descendants to the point where Rush is either worshiped as a near Messiah by one half or demonized, literally, by the other).
Even though this episode ended prematurely, I thoroughly enjoyed it and for the first time this spring I’m excited and anxious to watch next week’s ‘Epilogue‘ episode. I give ‘Common Descent’ a solid four star rating out of five stars.
Within the first scene, one of my previous questions (from the ‘Hope’ episode) was answered, albeit unsatisfactorily. If all Destiny inhabitants have been vegetarians for over ten months, then definite weight loss would have occurred across all crew members, with the exception, perhaps, of those who already practiced vegetarianism. What little ‘science’ we get from this ‘science fiction’ series should at least reflect an observable phenomenon, correct?
My earlier unvoiced surmise that Greer and Varro would be the ones captured in this episode quickly proved incorrect. My second guess proved partially correct in that TJ was abducted. The second abductee I didn’t recognize and fear he would not make the credits, reminiscent of the expendable ‘red shirts’ in the Star Trek (TOS) landing parties.
After the original landing part sent to explore the planet returns (minus two members) to Destiny, Col. Young leaves Matt in charge and takes the lead on the search and rescue mission. Greer keeps second guessing himself because he hesitated when confronted with alien during the first attack. Young attempts to mentor Greer, who is unusually aggressive/assertive towards his superior officer.
The rescue proceeds slowly and we see Varro volunteer himself and the rest of the Lucian Alliance personnel to help track the creature. He successfully convinces Matt (and assumedly Col. Young) to gate down to the planet.
Meanwhile … (there’s always a ‘meanwhile’ subplot or two on a television show) back on Destiny, Rush, Eli and Brody are exploring new sections of ship and stumble upon a stasis chamber. Rush uncharacteristically urges cautions to Eli and Brody in tampering with the stasis equipment. This turns into a slight and well played comedic subplot with a moral. Another version of the ‘kindler, gentler’ Rush? At least this one was easier to stomach.
I felt Chloe overstepped her boundaries by discussing Volker’s love life with him directly. Ew. Very awkward. Later, Rush deigns to give Volker romantic advice, in a reverse psychological sort of way. Sadly, once Volker girds on his courage (and his vest) he stumbles upon his first setback in that he’s not along in pursuing the woman in question.
Back on the planet, the alien creature manages to ambush the expanded search and rescue team, eliminating several members, including all of the Lucian Alliance leftovers except for Varro, who has replaced Young (injured in the ambush) as defacto team leader and mentor for an increasingly stressed Greer.
When we finally see the alien creature, something unexpected occurs from many unexpected corners. I’ll leave it to you to watch that for yourself and make your own conclusions about first contacts between humans and aliens, between herbivores and carnivores (or omnivores), between nature (hunting/killing/eating ‘unintelligent’ animals?) and nurture (protecting your offspring (instinct) yet recognizing intelligence (tool making, fire starting, non-verbal communication).
I look forward to re-watching this episode later in the week. At first blush, I’ll give it four out of five stars for a well rounded enjoyable thought provoking episode with some punch. And starting next Monday (for the last few episodes of this series) Syfy is moving SGU one hour earlier, so I can get some much needed sleep!
While I enjoyed last week’s SGU episode, Seizure, better than usual, I’m really ramping up for tonight’s ‘The Hunt‘ episode.
SGU: The Hunt airs tonight in the US on Syfy
For starters, we get off Destiny, and I mean physically leave the ship through an actual Stargate (or maybe it’s a shuttle? … who cares … it’s not via the Ancient communication stones, which is all I care about). The episode also features Greer, which is always good for some heart pounding action and Varro gets more screen time.
And we morph into some kind of alien abduction of two of the exploration team. I wonder which two get captured? I guess I’ll tune into tonight and find out.
I motivated myself with the help of Apollo, my wonder-Rott, to take a longer walk this morning. I found my sunglasses (left them in the car two days ago), found the dog leash near my walking shoes, and asked Terry to hang on to Roxy. The minute I latched onto Apollo’s collar with the leash, Roxy set to whining, howling and other piteous moaning sounds made by pathetic spoiled canines.
The sun had barely risen when Apollo and I started swimming, er, I mean walking. Even though the temperature was mild (in the 60s), the humidity was a hefty 87 percent! My sunglasses kept fogging up while walking. Usually, Apollo and I walk north for a couple of blocks to Mary Street and then head west crossing US-73/K-7 and walking within sight of Desoto Road. Instead, we turned back south after crossing the highway and walked through the ‘Town Centre’ area. Along the way I spied some flowering trees:
Of course, being the uninformed arborist, I have no idea what types of trees or shrubs these are, so please educate me!
Once Apollo and I returned home, I checked the forecast for today (well, actually for tonight), hoping for a chance to view Saturn again. If nothing else, the Moon will be spectacular as it reaches it’s quarter crescent stage of waxing-ness.
In the meantime, while the sun is still shining, time to do some housework, clean off the DVR (Formula One weekend eats up so much space so quickly!) and catch up on some reading.
