“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.
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)?
But I’m not joking about reading, especially fantasy and science fiction. Here’s a preview of what’s being read at a select few of my GoodReads book clubs and groups:
Last week’s episode of Stargate Universe, Twin Destinies, left me with some hope for progress towards a more scientific storyline. Thanks to last night’s episode, Alliances, that brief sparkle came crashing down in a soap-opera-like bombshell.
SGU 'Alliances' aired 21 Mar 2011
The IOC (or whatever world governing body currently attempts to control Earth’s Stargates) paid a visit to Destiny through a Senator and a scientist (the one who turned down heading the Icharus project before Rush came on board) who switch with Camile Wray and Greer (kick and screaming and griping about being ordered to take R&R). Basically, Camille needs a ‘fix’ for her political intrigue addiction and the Senator needs to assess Destiny’s mission and the progress on returning the crew to Earth.
Camile and Greer haven’t had thirty seconds to acclimate themselve to an increased terrorist threat level (Leutian Alliance) on Earth before the facility is attacked. We spend the rest of that storyline on Earth with Camile and Wray an an airman trapped in an unstable building trying to get out and eventually seeking the bomb left by the Leutian Alliance kamikaze pilot. Ample opportunity for Wray and Greer to endear themselves of each other through an unproductive but oh-so-dramatic shouting match.
On board Destiny, the Senator is stirring the pot and questioning everyone’s fitness to lead and their ability to survive. The scientist is appropriately awed by Destiny but not convince of Rush’s ‘discovery’ of an intelligent being(s) existing before the birth of the Universe. He also attempts to stir the pot among Rush’s underlings.
My biggest disappointment became the introduction of yet another cowardly scientist. Once he learns his body back on Earth has been exposed to lethal doses of radiation, he sabatoges the signal of the Ancient communication stones device so he can remain in Greer’s body rather than return to certain death. At least the Senator stepped up and accepted her sacrifice for the greater good and returned willingly to her body to complete the diffusion.
And the real icing on the cake, we end the episode with Camile and Greer on the observation deck, where his emotional armor cracks and he talks about his mommy with Camille. Yes, it had emotional impact. But spare me the psychobabble and get back to the mission … any mission. We can cry about characters’ flaws and humanity on a hundred other ‘normal’ television shows about ‘normal’ Earth scenarios. This is supposed to be science fiction.
No questions were answered about last week’s time travel mysteries. We basically spun some emotional wheels in “Alliances” and stirred up the nearly dead threat of the Leutian Alliance. For a Stargate episode, I’d give this somewhere between a two or a three on a five star scale. I think I would have been less disappointed had I watched Hawaii Five-O instead.
I struggled a bit with PKD’s prose, which at times staggered about like an alcoholic or drug addict and/or a mentally ill person rambling about their innermost incoherent thoughts. But an occasional brilliance burst through the befuddlement to guide me back if I strayed too far off course.
Written almost twenty years after World War II, PKD presents us with an America divided up as spoils of war between the Japanese Empire and Nazi Germany. He portrayed a believable view of American life under two fascist regimes. I surprised myself by feeling empathy not only for the victimized Americans (including Jews hunted to extinction, Blacks reduced to slaves, and other insidious persecutions of non-Aryan races), but also the Japanese, some of whom begin to see the writing on the wall.
I couldn’t help but compare the Oracle (aka as the I Ching or Book of Changes) to the Cosmological Interventionists represented by two out-of-control orphaned Blitz children in Willis’ Blackout/All Clear. It’s a stretch, but the conclusion of both novels left me with the same intriguing warm fuzzy feeling.
I read this novel as one of the suggested readings for my local library’s adult winter reading program called ‘Altered States’ and blogged about my reading journey.
I admit to a science fiction reader shortcoming: I love to watch science fiction, but usually don’t care to read it, especially the sub-genre of ‘hard science fiction.’
And to be completely honest, I thought I gave myself a migraine reading the first pages of Dragon’s Egg (an astrophysics crash course in neutron stars). Once past the cold hard super-heavy facts, I thoroughly enjoyed the development of the cheela life-form and the brief interaction the human scientists experienced.
I completely sympathized with the crew of the Dragon Slayer not wanting to blink, let alone sleep, as they watched the astonishing development of cheela society. In just a few hours, the cheela civilization went from ‘savages, stagnating in an illiterate haze’ to outpacing human development by ‘many thousands of years.’ Relatively speaking, of course.
I didn’t connect to any one particular cheela, since their lifespans were so short in human terms, nor with any of the scientists, who got the short-end of the stick when it came to their story-line. But my eyes teared up reading a farewell delivered by a cheela robot to the human scientists, a fitting benediction to a benevolent mutually beneficial first contact interaction.
Recommended for all fans of science fiction, first contact stories and hard sci-fi novels.
Last week, my strongest gut reaction to SGU‘s episode ‘Deliverance‘ centered upon the seemingly kinder, gentler Nicholas Rush I normally love to hate. Last night, against my better judgment and geeky-routine, I watched Stargate Universe’s latest episode, ‘Twin Destinies’ live with only occasional pausing to avoid obnoxious annoying overamplified advertisements. Just doing my bit for the ratings.
SGU 'Twin Destinies' aired 14 Mar 2011
To my relief, Rush returned to his old habits within the first five minutes of the episode. And before ten minutes elapsed, I had another Rush to reinforce and affirm the original one, feeding back off each other in perfect temporal synergy.
But let me step back a bit. The under-scientists report to Rush, Wray, Young and Telford that the recent battles with the drones have pushed Destiny to the brink of destruction. No redundant systems remain, no backups, no way to repair damaged systems, all appears hopeless. And in fact, Rush accuses ‘everyone’ of being defeatist. Eli throws the wrench in the monkey by proclaiming he’s found a way to dial the 9th chevron to Earth while Destiny recharges in a star. The debate rages about the ‘true’ mission of the crew (Destiny v. the 9th chevron and/or returning to Earth). Rush then becomes the defeatist profit, espousing doom and death if the crew follows Eli’s plan of hope. Young overrules all objections and orders the crew to congregate in the gateroom where the announcement will be made of the chance to return to Earth. Young allows Rush to appeal to the crew for volunteers to remain on Destiny, and he agrees to support Rush, even unto standing beside him as Rush addresses everyone.
After the first commercial break, Young presses Rush for a minimum number of volunteers to man Destiny. This becomes a key event for the rest of the episode. Their conversation is interrupted with an urgent summons from the bridge. Young and Rush arrive to discover Rush’s voice heard over the radio (assumedly from the shuttle) requesting to board Destiny. Rush finally has an intelligent conversation with someone … himself.
I can’t completely keep spoilers out of this review (as noted in the last few paragraphs). Yes, time travel is involved, albeit unwittingly. It’s been ages since I watched an SG1 episode that dealt with time travel via stargate, so I’m a bit fuzzy on the physics. We’ve got at least two Destinies, two Rushes and two Telfords that we know of, and deaths occur, well, maybe (no one ever really dies in science fiction).
Telford may become another Rush-like character for me. In fact, ‘future’ Telford on Earth demanded to be connected via the ancient communication device to his ‘original’ self on the ‘original’ Destiny. That poses an interesting scenario for the stargate universe mythos. Telford vocally and militarily asserted himself, to the contradiction of Young, a number of times in this episode.
The subplot where Rush pleads for volunteers to remain on Destiny, with Young’s out-of-the-blue support, lacked punch or believability. Especially with respect to those who stepped forward as volunteers, most of whom have pressing familial ties on Earth that would pull any sane person home in a heartbeat. Clearly a ‘plot device’ as none of it mattered by the time we reached the credits.
Varro returned, briefly, but significantly, showing that the Lucian Alliance is still alive and kicking somewhere in Destiny, just below the surface.
Overall, a much improved episode from last week, clearly a four out of five stars. Only eight episodes left for SGU and Syfy announced Sunday, that starting in April, SGU will air earlier on Monday evenings, at 8:00 pm Central instead of the current later 9:00 pm Central.
Monday evening, at least in the States courtesy of the Syfy Channel, marked the return of Stargate Universe. The first of the last ten episodes, Deliverance, aired at nine o’clock Central, which means I don’t get to watch it until Tuesday (because, as you must already know, I turn into a pumpkin most work nights shortly after 9:15 pm).
SGU 'Deliverance' aired 7 Mar 2011
I’m relieved I did not stay up late to watch the episode ‘live’ even though not doing so probably contributed to SGU’s less than stellar ratings upon the return of the second season. I felt let down, similar to what I felt with the Season Two opening episode, Intervention, especially since Season One‘s cliffhanger Incursion (parts I & II) really got my blood pumping. Again, all the hype of the cliffhanger (Incursion to Intervention and Resurgence to Deliverance) resolved itself too quickly and patly. You spend nearly ten episodes building up these galactic expectations and then spend five or ten minutes sweeping them under the rug, then take a tangential turn in plot and character development leaving me scratching my head and wondering why I bother watching.
Case in point: I’ve spent this entire series loving to hate Nicholas Rush (portrayed by Robert Carlyle). Cowardly, self-serving, manipulative, obsessive (genius on the event horizon of insanity). I cheered out loud and replayed the scene from The Greater Good a half dozen times, when Col. Young took down Rush with a fantastic choke hold. I screamed at my television (and DVR) for Young to finish the job. Very rarely have I so strongly wanted a character to stop breathing.
So, here we are, four months later (at least in Earth time outside the Stargate Universe) and Rush ends this episode consoling and comforting Chloe with a slight smile on his face. Heh? Is he prepping himself for his next gig, transforming himself into a kindler, gentler guy? I’m all for character growth that includes forgiveness and redemption, but this attempt (if that was what the writers and director were aiming for) failed. The switch in Rush jolts and rings hollow. Of course, that would be true-to-form if Rush has something hidden up his sleeve … again.
And are we to believe that Chloe is cured by their old alien nemesis from the other galaxy and returned ‘unharmed’ to Destiny’s shuttle while a battle rages around them? And that the newly allied/quickly betraying/renewly allied aliens (the last handful of their kind in existence) willingly sacrificed themselves (and an Ancient seed ship) as a diversion for Destiny and it’s crew during said battle? And that Destiny, once Ely managed to ‘save the day’ again and temporarily fuzz the drones, could so easily destroy the drone command ship (probably in less than five seconds of screen/battle time)? And the attempt at comedy between Brody (holding flashlights distractedly while texting, or so it appeared), Volker (complaining about said flashlight’s lack of focus) and the shield generator repair closets seemed strained at best, and out-of-place otherwise.
I’d rate this episode maybe at three stars out of five and I sincerely hope the renaming nine raise the bar.
