Tag: Stargate SG-1

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Season 1

DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon, Mini Marathon

Deutsche Version

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Cast

Season 1

Disc 1

Pilot

Synopsis: It’s the year 1999 and Judgement Day hasn’t happened – yet. Sarah and John are constantly switching aliases and living placaes. But one day two cyborgs have still found them: One comes in the form of a young girl called Cameron and she was sent to protect John. And the other is a classical terminator. They try to escape him but in the end there’s no place they can hide, just another time.

My Opinion: To fully enjoy the show one has to put it in a parallel universe to the movies. It’s similar to the Highlander movie (There can be only one!) and the series. While I liked the general general idea of the show I had a problem with some story elements. For example: Cameron took the other cyborg out with a power surge. In my unprofessional opinion two minutes should have been enough to somehow destroy him or at least to damage him severely – he can’t resist after all. And some of the stuff in the vault seemed unlikely, too. Even if I knew how to build a microchip in 1965 there wouldn’t be the the technology (wafers etc.) to actually do it. But they had to find a way to push the series forward to today and it was fairly ok.
So I like the story but one mustn’t think to much about the logic.

Gnothi Seauton

Synopsis: They jumped eight years into the future, into 2007. And now all three of them need new identities to blend in. Cameron leads Sarah to a group of resistance fighters who were send back by John to destroy Skynet before it goes operational. But when that fails they have to visit an old friend. Meanwhile John explores the technological differences between 1999 and 2007.

My Opinion: The writers are obviously not very burdened with the complex issues that go with time-travel. It seems that whenever they need it they will send people back and forth through time as if nothing could disrupt the timeline. But if that were so then we would be back on the concept of a time-loop as the movie Terminator had present it (It has always happened that way and always will be, there’s nothing we can do about it). But Terminator 2 had thrown that overboard and declared that the timeline can be changed and (as Doc Brown explained it in Back to the Future 2) that will result in another timeline. I also had a problem with that “Zombie Terminator” who can obviously walk without its head attached – I thought the “eyes” were its optical sensors?
Another thing I noticed: I don’t know how far ahead the pilot was shot and what they thought would happen after it, but I didn’t have the feeling to see a Mrs. Dyson or a detective who was eight years older than in the pilot. They should have used a better mask to make them look younger in the pilot (Look at Bruce Boxleitner in Babylon 5: In the Beginning!)
Too bad Enrique had to die, I would have liked it to see Tony Amendola (Master Bra’tac in Stargate SG-1) more often.

The Turk

Synopsis: Sarah is looking for former employees of Cyberdyne Systems to check whether they are continuing the Skynet project or doing something else dangerous. Connor and Cameron pose as siblings in their new school and try to blend in.

My Opinion: Is it my imagination or did the metall skeleton of that terminator look a bit too shiny? He had been blasted to peaces and has lain in the garbage. Which brings up another question: How did he get there in the first place? He wasn’t within the time bubble and thus hasn’t travelled with the others. What happend to that bank building in the last eight years and why has no one ever found the skeleton or the head – which lay quite open on the side of the street?
And when Sarah burned down Andy’s house the fires looked digital – and fake. Don’t they have the money anymore to burn down a real, wooden facade?

Disc 1 – My Opinion: The show is enjoyable, the characters are fine. But as you can see the show opens a can of questions for me and they bother me because that makes me thinking that either the writers didn’t see this problems or they thought the viewers wouldn’t notice or that the viewers wouldn’t care. None of which is really an acceptable answer in my opinion. But I will continue to watch and see how it unfolds.
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Deep Space Nine: Season 4

DS9 Marathon, DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon

Deutsche Version | Season 3 | Season 5

Disc 1

The Way of the Warrior

Synopsis: A rather large fleet of klingon ships under the command of General Martok arrives at the station and their true intentions remain unclear. But then they start to search ships that try to leave the bajoran sector to look for changelings. Sisko needs a Klingon to shed some light into this: Lt. Cmdr. Worf, son of Mogh. But when the fleet departs for an attack on Cardassia (that is infiltrated by Founders – or so do the Klingons believe), Worf has to make a choice: To stay with Starfleet or to rejoin his people.

My Opinion: Hawk is back! 😉 This was a great start to the season. Worf and Martok are great additions to the show and I like how fluent the concept of good and bad guys is. Except for Babylon 5 in other shows of that time the good guys remain good and the bad guys remain the bad guys. There’s rarely a grey area. Yes, the Klingons have been the bad guys once, but since the start of TNG they basically belonged to the good guys and that didn’t change – until now. It also often happened that a race was portrayed in a certain way and there were only a few exceptions to that general portrayal. Only Humans had been shown in all variations of grey. That is also due to the fact that TNG has shown a certain race rarely twice (except for the Klingons). DS9 with it’s “port of call” concept has broken with that and has shown all kinds of Bajorans, Klingons, Cardassians and will continue to do so.

The Visitor

Synopsis: An accident happens aboard the Defiant and Sisko gets vaporized and his son is shocked. But a few months later Ben Sisko reappears in Jake’s quarters and disappears again. Then a year later it happens again. Ben is caught in some kind of subspace bubble and Jake (who was involved in the original accident) is his anchor to this world. While his life goes on, he spends his time either with writing or studying subspace mechanics and after fifty years, Jake has figured out how to save his father.

My Opinion: In general, I liked this episode and (again) the relationship between Jake and his father. The story is very emotional and very well told. What bugs me is the fact that the Dominion war didn’t seem to have happened in that timeline. Firstly this contradicts the things we have learned so far about the Dominion infiltration of the AQ (e.g. in The Adversary) and secondly because that would mean that Sisko’s survival would lead to the greatest war in the history of the AQ with its millions of deaths.

Hippocratic Oath

Synopsis: O’Brien and Bashir detect a crash-landed ship along a trading route in the GQ. But when they approach the planet they get shot down and have to face a group of Jem’Hadar. But these are not regular Jem’Hadar, these one want to be free and for this they need to free themselves from the Ketracel-white drug. Bashir doesn’t believe this is possible due to his experiences with the Jem’Hadar infant in the previous year.

My Opinion: For the first time since the start of their friendship a rift has been created between Miles and Julian. Although it was sad to see, their behaviour was very fitting to each character. Miles has fought in the cardassian border wars and seen what an ruthless enemy is capable of and Julian is still a very enthusiastic doctor who values life above all else. But I am glad that their friendship will survive things like that.
And now we’ve seen Jem’Hadar who can think and act outside their genetically programmed pattern. Again a race has been shown more than one-dimensional and it will happen again.
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Deep Space Nine: Season 1

DS9 Marathon, DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon

Deutsche Version | Preamble | Season 2

Disc 1

Emissary

Synopsis: Deep Space Nine is a former cardassian space station orbiting the formerly occupied planet Bajor. The Bajorans have lived for 60 years under cardassian rule but now they are free. The provisional government has asked the Federation for support and Starfleet takes over the management of DS9. It’s commander is Benjamin Sisko, who has lost his wife three years ago in the battle against the Borg and now he must raise his son alone in the middle of nowhere. His second in command is Major Kira, a former bajoran resistance fighter. The rest of the crew are both Starfleet officers of all kind of races and Bajorans. Chief of security is Odo, a shape-shifter with unknown origins.
The spiritual leader of the Bajorans asks Cmdr. Sisko to study the “Tears of the Prophets”, mythical orbs that have come to Bajor of the last ten thousand years. With their help Cmdr. Sisko discovers the only known stable wormhole in our galaxy and it leads to the Gamma Quadrant, to a point 70,000 light years away from DS9, on the other side of the galaxy. And suddenly the bajoran system has been put onto the map and the Cardassians will accept any excuse to re-take it.

My Opinion: It’s very clear from the beginning that DS9 will be different than its predecessor Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG). TNG played on a all-Federation-personnel Starfleet spaceship, while on DS9 uncounted cultures clash: Starfleet personnel, Bajorans and the civilians aboard the station – for example Quark, the Ferengi bar owner. And most of the characters have a background story and their lives haven’t been straight-forward. I really like that. Unfortunately I can’t really remember what I thought about them, when I saw them for the first time back in the mid-90s, but DS9 is now my favourite Star Trek show and one of my favourite Sci-Fi shows.
I also liked the idea of the “handshake” when the Enterprise made an appearance in the pilot episode, something they will do again when the Voyager departs from DS9 in their pilot episode. But the meeting between Captain Picard and Cmdr. Sisko also showed that these shows will be different.

Past Prologue

Synopsis: A bajoran scout ship is being attacked by a cardassian warship but the pilot can be beamed out shortly before his ship is destroyed. He seeks asylum aboard DS9 because he was a member of the Khon-Ma, a “terrorist cell” during the occupation. Kira knows him from these days and she pleads to Sisko to grant asylum. But not all Cardassians have left the station. The local tailor Garak – who is suspected to be a spy – contacts Dr. Bashir in a rather unorthodox way and informs him about a meeting between two klingon renegades and the former terrorist.

My Opinion: The first episodes of the season will be used to introduce the viewers to the characters. While the pilot was mostly about Sisko and the loss of his wife at Wolf 359, this episode is about Kira and her past in the resistance. It was an OK episode, but I really liked the introduction of Garak, who will become an interesting guest character over the years.

A Man Alone

Synopsis: Odo tries to throw a Bajoran out of Quark’s casino/bar and wants him off the station. A few hours later that man is dead and there are no traces that could explain how the murder had left the crime scene. As chief of security Odo investigates but soon becomes a prime suspects and thus having a conflict of interest. Meanwhile Chief O’Brien’s wife Keiko – who was a botanist aboard the Enterprise – has nothing to do on DS9 and becomes frustrated. When Sisko’s son Jake befriends Quark’s nephew Nog and subsequently gets into trouble, she decides that the station needs a school.

My Opinion: This episode introduces Odo who has also been security chief during the last years of the occupation. I really like that he’s a man of principles who has his own codex and who values justice above all else. It was only consequent that it was he who pointed out that only a shape-shifter could have left the crime scene without leaving a trace. The story’s hole was that the doctor couldn’t figure out what these DNA particles were until it grown into a whole body. After all he was second-best in his year at medical school…
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Smallville: Season 3

DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon, Smallville Marathon

Deutsche Version | Season 2 | Season 4

Disc 1

Exile

Synopsis: Clark hides out in Metropolis under the alias “Kal” and has become a criminal in order to finance his lifestyle. The Kents have to sell the farm, they and Lana are still looking for him. There’s one person who knows where he is but she’s promised him not to reveal it. Meanwhile Lex “lives” on a tropical island with some other guy and tries to get off it.

My Opinion: Great continuation of the story. Though I haven’t understood why Jonathan and Pete didn’t try to knock him out with Kryptonite. Ok, they did that last time but that proved to be successful. I understand that using the same plot twice is uncreative, yet if it were for real I doubt that they wouldn’t have tried it again.
I also liked Michael’s performance on the island, he did a better job than Tom Hanks (What a boring movie!).

Phoenix

Synopsis: Both Clark and Lex return to Smallville and both have to deal with what happened lateley. That means that Lex has to straighten out what really happened on that plane and if his wife had anything to do with it. And Clark has to deal with a Metropolis crime boss who threatens his parents and he has to apologize to a whole lot of people.

My Opinion: It was a good conlusion to this four-parter. Unfortunately it ends with Clark’s break-up with Lana against her expressed wish and he is retreating into his shell again.
I liked to see Rutger Hauer in the role of the crime boss, if it were for me, it could have lasted longer than these two episodes but unfortunately he had to share the fate of bad guys who know Clark’s secret.

Extinction

Synopsis: A “meteor freak” attacks Lana in the school pool and a secret vigilante shoots him to death. He has killed before and his next target is Lex whom he believes to be a meteor freak, too. Clark can save Lex once again but that makes him also a target. Unfortunately the shooter has found Clark’s Achilles’ heel and he uses Kryptonite bullets.

My Opinion: I liked the theme of the episode: Are all meteor-infected people murderous freaks? If I were in Clark’s position I wouldn’t have told her (Lana) my secret either. Her point of view at the begin of the episode was quite firm and although she said that she wouldn’t mind if Clark were bullet-proof (i.e. a meteor freak), I wouldn’t be sure that she really wouldn’t mind. This topic will surface again, especially in one of the key episodes of the fourth season: Pariah.
I also liked the Eastwood-y way he protected himself from the bullets and put Lana’s mind at rest (at least for a while).

Slumber

Synopsis: Clark has the weirdest day: He somehow can fly, he skinny-dips with Lana, Lex finds out his secret and a young girl is chased by a mysteriously hooded figure in the woods and disappears into the ground. But then he awakes, after he’s been asleep for 36 hours. He learns that new neighbours have moved into Lana’s old house and that there’s a young girl in a coma.

My Opinion: I wonder what insurance company insures the Kent’s truck and what garage does the repairing. It had been in several very heavy crashes and was even blown up. Maybe they just like the brand and the colour. 😉
I liked the episode because it had a different angle than usual.
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Smallville: Season 2

DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon, Smallville Marathon

Deutsche Version | Season 1 | Season 3

Disc 1

Vortex

Synopsis: Lana’s Truck is torn apart by the tornado but Clark is there to protect her. But on the day after the storm he has to go on a search for his father who has run after the reporter that wanted to disclose Clark’s secret. While they are searching for him, Chloe makes the suggestion that they should stay “just friends”.

My Opinion: This was actually a good resolution. Of course they had to find a way to silence that reporter and this way had an ironic touch. If Lex knew what secret the reporter has taken into his grave, I believe he would have killed Jonathan instead.
And when it comes to woman Clark is as sensitive as a wrecking ball.

Heat

Synopsis: The new school year has started and Lex wants to marry! And his fiancé is Clark’s new biology teacher. She’s so hot that Clark sets the silver screen on fire just by staring at it. But something isn’t right with her. She has a strange control over all men, including Lex – but not Clark.

My Opinion: A “new ability” episode. It’s always fun to see Clark learning to control it and he always can put it to good use in the same episode. But I didn’t care much for the pheromone lady, maybe because I watched a similar story recently on Stargate SG-1.

Duplicity

Synopsis: Pete finds Clark’s spaceship (that had been lost since the tornado) in a field and he wants Clark’s help to salvage it. But then someone steals the ship and Pete suspects Clark – which isn’t far from the truth because Clark and his father actually intended to steal it. Then Clark decides to reveal his secret to Pete.

My Opinion: A really good episode. I’ve been waiting for it. Clark simply needs someone he can confide to (apart from his parents) and his best friend Pete is the perfect choice. And Pete will prove that he’s worthy of that knowledge in the very next episode.
The fact that Lionel now knows of the spaceship will also lead to very interesting storylines.

Red

Synopsis: Clark buys a ruby ring for $350. But the stone isn’t ruby, it’s red Kryptonite (not yet) meteor rock. Clark loses all stoppages and becomes a badass guy. But just as the effect of green meteor rocks worsen his condition over time, so does the red one.

My Opinion: Great episode. Loved it. It rarely happens that Tom can play Clark out of character and the red Kryptonite (sorry, it’s simply easier than “meteor rock”) gives him the perfect opportunity. I don’t really worry about the end, he will save Lana’s live once or twice and they will be friends again.
But the episode reminded me of Harley Cat:


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The Way of the Warrior: Strength & Honour

DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon, Mini Marathon

Deutsche Version

After I was done I was in the mood for a battle. Thus I started a mini-marathon under the theme
The Way of the Warrior: Strength & Honour.

The Charge of the Light Brigade
by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!” he said.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismay’d?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Some one had blunder’d.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of hell
Rode the six hundred.

Flash’d all their sabres bare,
Flash’d as they turn’d in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder’d.
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro’ the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel’d from the sabre-stroke
Shatter’d and sunder’d.
Then they rode back, but not,
Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro’ the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder’d.
Honor the charge they made!
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!

Gladiator

Russell Crowe … Maximus
Joaquin Phoenix … Commudus
Connie Nielsen … Lucilla
Oliver Reed … Proximo
Richard Harris … Marcus Aurelius
Derek Jacobi … Gracchus
Djimon Hounsou … Juba

Synopsis: General Maximus who has just conquered Germania is supposed to take the leadership of the Roman Empire after the emperor has died. But the emperor’s son kills his father, assumes the throne for himself and tries to kill Maximus. He can escape but becomes a slave and is being sold as “fresh meat” for the arena. There he makes a name of himself as “the Spaniard” until the day he faces the new emperor again.

My Opinion: Great movie. Loved it from the first time I ever saw it. Had to buy the extended version at once. Has a lot of quotable scenes in it that I can recite both in english and in german. While I am oppsosed to dubbing in general they did a great job with this, the german voice of Maximus is well chosen. I loved the battles in the arena, especially the “battle of Carthage”.
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Stargate SG-1: Season 10

DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon, SG-1 Marathon

Deutsche Version | Season 9 | The Ark of Truth

I have bought the first nine seasons of Stargate SG-1 here in Germany. Each one had an average price of 80-90€. Back in the days that were simply the prices for season boxes, Star Trek boxes had cost a similar amount. But times change and I was no more willing to pay 77€ for the 10. season in Germany. Thus I bought the complete box in the US for 135€. And it does look nice. I will chip the first nine seasons on eBay.

Disc 1

Flesh and Blood

Synopsis: The defence of the Supergate ended in a slaughter of the defenders. The four Ori ships had no problems with breaking through. Aboard one of these ships Vala has just given birth to her daughter. But she is growing very fast and she is supposed to become the leader of all Ori troops in this galaxy.

My Opinion: The more often I encounter the story it the less interesting it gets: chosen childs. Offhand I can recall: Gabrielle’s daughter Hope (Xena: Warrior Princess), Xena’s daughter Eve/Livia (Xena: Warrior Princess) and of course Angel’s son Connor (Angel). If we add movies, we can also add Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader (Star Wars).
I was also a bit disappointed that Bra’tac has learned very few since he first encountered G_1 over eight years ago. Back then he also wanted to prepare for death after they had successfully sabotaged Apophis’s ship.

Morpheus

Synopsis: SG-1 visits one of the planets where they hope to find Merlin’s weapon. But there isn’t a single living being, not even animals. But the inhabitants of the village seem to have died peacefully in their beds.
In the meantime Vala has to undergo a psychiatric examination before she can join the Stargate program.

My Opinion: This episode was literally soporific.

The Pegasus Project

Synopsis: Daniel hopes to find more information about the location of the weapon in Atlantis. And Carter has developed a plan to render the Supergate useless with the help of a black hole in the Pegasus galaxy.

My Opinion: This episode I liked again. McKay was great and the way Daniel and Vala blew the cover of the Ancient “Morgan le Fay” was also good. While there are significant difference the Ancients and the Ori strongly reminded me of the Vorlons and the Shadows (Babylon 5) in this episode. All four are far superior to the normal Humans and within their universe they have a mutual exclusive point of view on how to interact with the Humans. Although the Ancients are the only ones of the four that don’t intervene at all (with the usual exceptions to that rule).
The “phone bill” of this episode could be interesting. Atlantis in the Pegasus galaxy calls the SGC who in turn call Teal’c at the Supergate and he relays the message through the open wormhole to the Odyssey in the Pegasus galaxy. 😉

Insiders

Synopsis: The allegedly real Ba’al comes to Earth and offers his help to find the weapon. But for this, SG-1 would have to kill all his clones who have uprisen against him. But every clone insits on being the real Ba’al and soon the SGC is swarmed with Ba’als.

My Opinion: Oh Sam, come on! Have you learned nothing from the RepliCarter disaster? I am annoyed that this highly intelligent woman falls for such plans. Yes, granted, she was in a hostage situation but how many lives will it cost when Ba’al is successful?
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Stargate SG-1: Season 9

DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon, SG-1 Marathon

Deutsche Version| Season 8| Season 10

Disc 1

Avalon

Synopsis: Lt. Colonel Mitchell has taken over the command of SG-1. The problem is: There is no SG-1 anymore. Teal’c is council member on Dakara, Sam has been reassigned to Area 51 and Daniel is about to leave to Atlantis.
But then Vala Mal Doran comes to Earth and brings an enrycpted tablet, written in Ancient. It points to a secret location on Earth that is supposed to contain treasures. Vala binds Daniel to herself with a special set of “hand cuffs” and they go off on the search for Avalon, the resting place of King Arthur.

My Opinion: In an early episode of the eight season Sam asked how people like her are ever going to have a family. If she would become pregnant could she simply take maternity leave? The absence of Sam in this and the following episodes is exactly for this reason: Amanda Tapping is on maternity leave.
But the chemistry between Daniel and Vala works very well again. The attempts of Mitchell (Ben Browder, John Crichton in Farscape) “to bring the band back together” are honourable but (so far) in vain.
O’Neill was promoted to Major General and has turned the command over to Major General Landry (Beau Bridges). This marks the end of Richard Dean Anderson as regular cast.

Avalon, Part 2

Synopsis: After they’ve successfully solved the puzzles in the cave, Daniel discovers a device of the Ancient’s that stands in relation to the stones Joe Spencer and Jack have been using for years. They suspect that it is a means of communication. Since Daniel and Vala are still “bound” to each other they try it together – and land in a remote place in foreign bodies. They don’t find the Ancients there but worshippers of the Ori.
In the meantime the situation in the newly found Jaffa council develops differently than Bra’tac and Teal’c had hoped.

My Opinion: I liked the fact that they’ve established a permanent doctor again (Lexa Doig, “Rommie” in Andromeda). They haven’t had one since the death of Dr. Frasier.
But I didn’t understand how the First Prime of a backwater Goa’uld could gather that many followers. A Jaffa (it hadn’t to be the First Prime) of a System Lord would have been more believable.

Origin

Synopsis: Daniel and Vala have been brought to the “City of the Gods” by the Prior. There he meets the leader of the Priors and he learns that the Ori are Ancients, too. But the Ori believe that the mortals should worship them. Anyone who doesn’t follow the “path of enlightenment” will be destroyed. Through the arrival of Daniel and Vala the Ori have learned of our galaxy and they have sent their first Priors.

My Opinion: As if by magic a new enemy emerges that is more powerful than Anubis or the Replicators. The fact that the Ori cannot come here themselves makes this war winnable. In terms of Dragonball, we have reached the Buu Saga.

The Ties That Bind

Synopsis: Although the “hand cuffs” have been removed, Daniel and Vala still cannot part without collapsing. They try to find out why that is and how to undo it. But for this they have to “retrieve” a few items.

My Opinion: The story and the looks of this episode felt like a mixture of Farscape and Firefly. This is no critizism, since Mitchell shouldn’t be a simple copy of Jack and Vala isn’t an ordinary SG team member. I liked it a lot.
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