Stargate SG-1--"The Tok'ra, Part II"

When I guessed the Tok’ra symbiote Selmak would be blended with Jacob Carter in order to cure his terminal cancer, I did not realize that said blending would be the near entirety of the plot. Lo and behold, aside from jack rooting out the tok’ra traitor, thereby impressing another alien race besides the Asgard, that is what ’The Tok’ra, Part II” is all about. The story may sound thin, but it is quite engrossing.

The Tok’ra reveal the biggest reason they do not want to ally with earth is because humans were offered a chance to save the dying Selmak, but refused because no one wanted to host the symbiote. As far as the tok’ra are concerned, that means humans can more for themselves than others. Why should the Tok’ra ally with people with people who obviously value life so little? The SG-1 and SG-3 teams decide, on Sam’s suggestion, to offer up Jacob as a host.

Jack and Sam are allowed to go back to earth to retrieve Jacob. Once he has been filled in on everything from the stargate to the idea of placing a giant worm inside of him to gain another century of life, he jumps at the chance. I think he accepts the situation a little too quickly, but then again, the alternative is death, so go for it regardless, right?

In the interim, some Goa’uld mother ships have been alerted to the Tok’ra base and are on their way to destroy it. Jack identifies the traitor from a Goa’uld communications device he saw him using in part one. The traitor commits suicide rather than be captured, but is later revealed to have jumped hosts again. Luckily, jack is there to root him out a second time. Not much gets passed him.

The blending process between Jacob and Selmak lasts into the beginning of the Goa’uld attack, but they manage to escape through the stargate just in the nick of time. Now blended, Jacob/Selmak offers to serve as liaison between the Tok’ra and Earth. Thus begins their alliance.

I tried hard to like Jacob, but I am not sure that I do. I am certainly not a big fan of parents pushing their kids to conform to whatever vision the parents have for them. It is doubly bad when the parents turn a cold shoulder to their kids when they do not conform. However, I can appreciate the stiff upper lip Jacon demonstrates in the face of his illness. He has been a tough warrior his whole life, and now cancer, something he cannot physically fight, is causing him to rot away. I can see why a man like him would push everyone away under those circumstances. It is bittersweet how well sam understands his attitude, even if she does not like it. He is a tough guy who is not all that thrilled to see her when she visits, turns tender when he thinks he is definitely going to ddie and has nothing to lose, and then returns to his stoic, duty first self after the blending. Sam takes it all in stride because it satisfies him.

“The Tok’ra, Part II’ was not really a slam bang conclusion to the first part, but I liked it anyway. Rooting out the traitor felt like a frivolous addition to the story just to have some scene breaks, not to mention convenient for the betrayal to happen just as SG-1 arrives. That is television for you. There are no big flaws, including that one, so the two part story introducing the tok’ra is a solid effort.

Rating: *** (out of 5)

Eva Mendes

Part of The Other McCain's Rule 5 Sunday.

Mitt Romney and Ras al Ghul

Yet another reason to oppose Mitt Romney's nomination.

Formspring Question #353--Obama Dollars Edition

Do you think Obama will really raise $1 billion for re-election? Or trying to scare whoever gets the Republican nomination?

Pretty much everyone on the right and left laughed that notion off.

Formspring Question #352--Turds Wrapped in Turds with a Creamy Turd Filling Edition

You are pretty clear with your conservative values, but is there anything you admire about democrats? Or liberals in general? Dislike in the Republican Party? Conservatives in general?

I cannot make broad statements about any group of people other than, as a whole, they are really, really awful.

Formspring Question #351--Media Bias Edition

It seems like there is a deep hatred of free press in the rep party. There is terrible bias on both sides, but we seem to distrust and despise the media in a way dems don’t, even when the reporting is fair.

Conservatives do not like the media because, even if the reporting is fair, journalists are more often than not progressives themselves. Journalism is a frivolous, generally lowing job which is perceived as a career for those crusading for a cause. Conservatives are much more interesting in creating wealth rather than promoting a cause, therefore there is a certain amount of contempt for someone who rather promote a cause than be a wealth creator.

It is different for other professions. There is no progressive way to perform a kidney transplant, so no one objects if their nefrologiat is a Republican. But journalists are sources of information, and it is difficult to think a journalist can resist putting a spin favorable to his beliefs on what he is relaying even when he is being honest.

You did not ask for my advice, so feel free to dismiss what I am about to say. Stop watching corporate media altogether. At least take what you hear and read with a grain of salt while balancing the news out from other sources. I am not coming from the angle that corporations are evil. What I am saying is that corporate media is a wing of the entertainment business. It purpose is not to inform, but to keep eyeballs glued to the television set so they can throw twenty minutes worth of commercials at you every hour. That means the corporate media is going to cover what it thinks you want to see in a way you want to see it. If you are entertained by such things, great. Have at it, but realize you are grossly uninformed by it. You might want to consider the general contempt for media is a subconscious realization what you are hearing is a load..

Stargate SG-1--"The Tok'ra, Part I"

“The Tok’ra, Part I” offers us the first glimpse of the organized resistance against the System Lords. As such, the episode features reams of exposition about the who, what, and where of the Tok’ra. This Wikipedia entry of a story is broken up by emphasis on Sam, specifically about family and loss. Her father is in his final days of a losing cancer battle while she meets Jolinar’s mate on the Tok’ra world.

Sam has dream in which she believes she is reliving Jolinar’s memories of a Jaffa attack on the Tok’ra. In the dream, she witnesses the address to which the Tok’ra fled and convinces SG-1 to go there with the prospect of forming an alliance. Jack is skeptical--the Tok’ra are still Goa’uld--but he agrees based on his trust in Sam. Before departing, she calls to check in on her father. He is nearing the end, but is too prideful to let his daughter see him fade away in a hospital bed, so he pushes her away.

The SG-1 team discovers the Tok’ra on the planet dialed, but it takes Sam’s insight from Jolinar to end a Mexican stand off. Tensions do not ease much even after. Jack remains skeptical the Tok’ra are the good guys. For their part, the Tok’ra are arrogant and distant at the prospect of an alliance. They have a better coexistence with their symbiotes, so much so they cannot understand why SG-1 do not want to serve as hosts, too. The bottom line seems to be Earth has nothing to offer as allies other than to become hosts. Daniel argues they successfully destroyed Apophis’ invasion force, but unfortunately Tok’ra agents died when the ships exploded, so no dice there. When it rains, it pours.

The ruling council of the Tok’ra refuses an alliance. To make matters worse, SG-3 heads to the planet to retrieve sam when her father is literally on his death bed at the same time the Tok’ra decide SG-1 cannot leave because they know too much about the Tok’ra resistance.

As I said above, the episode is filled with exposition regarding who and what the Tok’ra are, how their symbiotic relationship works, the differences with the Goa’uld, and just about anything else you could possibly wonder about. There are some personal moment, such as Hammond trying to convince Jacob carter he needs to let his daughter see him before he dies and sharing Jolinar’s thought’s with the mate left behind. It amounts to an awful lot of set up. I have a nagging suspicion the symbiote the Tok’ra wanted to place in one of SG-1 is going to wind up in Sam’s father. That was telegraphed a mile away. An episode with this much set up requires a big pay off in the concluding chapter.

Rating: *** (out of 5)

Kaley Cuoco

Thursday is Kaley Cuoco Day!

Formspring Question #350--Battlestar SGU Edition

Are you planning on covering Stargate Universe?

No.

Formspring Question #349--Tapping Tapping Edition

For that matter, Amanda Tapping: hot or not?

This question is an obvious follow up to the Teryl Rothery inquiry from yesterday.

I may get a barrage of pointy objects aimed at my head here, but I have to say hot is overselling Amanda Tapping. She is attractive no doubt. By all accounts she is super nice to her fans. But she is just that--nice. I am not certain if so many gaters think she is hot because she is one of a very few women to have a big role on Stargate SG-1 so she is a big fish in a small pond or if she just is not my type. Considering I do find Teryl Rothery hot--Tina Fey and Maggie Gyllenhaal, too--the latter appears to be more the case. I like what I like.

But you did not want my opinion. You just wanted a photo of Amanda Tapping:There you go.

Orson Welles Drunk on the Set of a Wine Commercial

Here is another commercial for Paul Masson wine from 1980 in which Orson Welles is in better shape:

Stargate SG-1--"Bane"

“Bane” is for neither the entomophobis, nor the claustrophobic. I am neither, and I still got the creeps at times. The reaction is about the only interesting aspect of the episode. Otherwise, the plot is a typical race against the clock in order to discover a miraculous cure that a far advanced civilization could not cure before being wiped out.

The SG-1 team visits an advanced city that appears completely abandoned. It turns out the place is not completely abandoned when teal’c is bitten by a huge insect. The team is nearly swarmed by the bug’s buddies, so they grab the already in distress Teal’c and head for the stargate. The bug’s venom is re-writing Teal’c’s DNA and even his symbiote is not able to prevent the metamorphosis.

Sam suggests calling in an old colleague of hers from the Pentagon, Dr. Timothy Harlow, because he is an expert geneticist. Unfortunately, Mayborne and Harlow turn out to be a package deal. The NID wants to study the insect venom, so they take Teal’c into custody. Teal’c is determined he would rather die than change into anything, so he escapes into the Colorado wilderness after removing his symbiote to ensure his death. Or because the insect venom has altered his mind. The script leaves it up to you to decide. Was the idea Teal’c might willingly commit suicide too controversial ?

The SG-1 team finds the van that was carrying Teal’c over turned with the symbiote flopping around among the wounded NID agents. Keeping the symbiote alive crowds the story which is already divided between teal’c making his way to Colorado Springs and bonding with a little girl named Alyssa and the effort to find said miraculous cure. It is difficult to focus on three ongoing plots simultaneously. It lessens the impact of all three as well. Aysson contacts Jack with talc’s help, Frasier figures out how to keep the symbiote alive long enough to get it back into Teal’c, and Harlow reveals he had a cure all along that will no only work, but the symbiote can fully restore the damage done to Teal’c. Magic Reset Button, folks. Harlow even says the captured beug, venom, and all related research are going to have an unfortunate lab accident. In case you did not think he was one of the good guys.

The most remarkable thing about “Bane” is how much it tries to gross you out. Jack steps into a pile of insect manure and Teal’c is bitten by a huge bug that resembles a dragon fly with a scorpion tail in he teaser. The bug bite wound is a disgusting pus filled rotting that looks much like the aftermath of a brown recluse bite. The symbiote flops about helplessly when it is discovered abandoned. Teal’c is becoming a cocoon for more of those bugs to emerge, and the process of how they rip out of a human body is seen in all its glory on a recon mission to the alien city to retrieve one of the bugs. When teal’c is discovered, he is wrapped tightly in a cocoon. Literally one thing after another has you reeling.

If you are into the creepy crawly stuff, it is all impressive. But it does not hide the pedestrian, contrived plot. The story goes from A to B to C with absolutely no surprises. The script does not even attempt to be innovative about anything. Teal’c and Alyssa do develop a friendship, but their interaction does not get enough time to really blossom due to every other story element going on. The symbiote subplot probably should have been cut out to give the cure search and Teal’c’s bonding with Alyssa room to grow. No such luck.

Rating: ** (out of 5)

Raica Oliveia

Formspring Question #348--Rating Rothery Edition

Teryl Rothery: hot or not?

She is nice looking.So, yeah. Hot.

Florida Primary Predictions

I doubt the outcome of Florida's primary will be a surprise to anyone. The margin of victory is likely the only unsettled point;

Mitt Romney
Newt Gingrich
Rick Santorum
Ron Paul

i explained my rationale for Romney beating Gingrich yesterday, so there is no sense in repeating it here. I do not not fresee as big a blowout for Romney as some polls are predicting, but if he does win by a huge margin, Romney is going to have a lot of momentum heading into favorable primaries and caucuses next month. With no debates for three weeks, gingrich is not going to take advantage of his campaigning strength for a while. Considering that he did not set the woods on fire in the last debate, an upcoming lull in which he will likely appear weak may do his candidacy in.

Santorum will come in third. He had pretty much given up on florida even before his daughter was hospitalized in Pennsylvania. I do not expect a sympathy surge in voting, and I will just leave it at that.

Paul will finish last and probably in the single digits percentage-wise.

Stargate SG-1--"Secrets"

“Secrets” deals with the subject of family far better than the previous episode which was actually entitled “Family.” the episode has many interesting touches, among them Sam’s struggle that she can never please her father, Daniel’s willingness to risk everything in the near hopeless cause of recovering Sha’re, and talc’s loyalty to daniel being so strong, he will take the risks right along beside him. My inner X-Phile also appreciates the appearance and conspiratorial fate of Armin Selig, played by Jeffery Spender’s Chris Owens.

Exactly one year to the day Daniel promised to return to Abydos with the rescued Sha’re, he feels compelled to return anyway to explain to her father he has not given up the search. Teal’c agrees to go with him as back up. Jack and Sam are due in Washington to be awarded medals for their meroism in destroying Apophis’ ship, though the cover story is they are being awarded for research efforts. On Abydos, Daniel and teal’c discover sha’re has returned some time ago expecting apophis’ child. In Washington, sam is confronted with her cancer ridden father who is trying to guilt her into joining NASA so he can die knowing she is an astronaut. Jack is confronted by a journalist who knows all about Stargate Command and what has transpired there over the last year.

Two Goa’uld are forbidden from having a child together because the child would inherit the genetic memory of all Goa’uld, so Apophis incapacitated Sha’re’s symbiote in order for her to have a child. Apophis’ hid her away on Abydos to keep his rivals from taking the child. Daniel is devastated, but eventually comes to decide he should take Sha’re and the child back to Earth. Once Sha’re gives birth, she will revert back to Amaunet and have to be imprisoned so as not to harm anyone, but both she and her child will be free from Spophis’ grasp.

In Washington, Sam is surprised to see her major general father attending her ceremony. There is a definite vibe that he wanted a boy to be just like him, and nothing sam has ever accomplished has satisfied him. He reveals that he has pulled some strings to get her into the astronaut program, but she refuses. Her father drops the bomb on her that he is dying of cancer and wants to know she is going into space before he passes on. He leaves her with that guilt trip. The bitter part being if he knew what role she really played in top secret SG-1, he would think a career as an astronaut is child’s play. Or not. There probably is no real way to please him.

Meanwhile, jack encounters a journalist named Armin Selig who knows all about the stargate program. Selig is played by Chris Owens, who had been playing the young Cigarette smoking Man on The X-Files for a couple years and had just begun playing Jeffrey Spender a few months before “secrets.” Selig has shades of Fox Mulder. He is a guy who has stumbled across a government conspiracy involving aliens that he is determined to unravel even though no one would likely believe the truth. Selig is killed by a hit and run driver after confronting for the second time. It is unclear whether selig’s death was an accident or someone murdering him to keep the stargate a secret. Nifty homage there, but I cannot help but think it was thrown in for the sake of giving Jack something to do in the episode. He is the only main character who does not have emotionally difficult decisions to make regarding someone he cares about.

Sha’re gives birth. Her Goa’uld reemerges just as Heru’ur arrives to kidnap the child in order to spite Apophis. Daniel gives the child to Sha’re’s father to spirit away, and the rest of SG-1 arrive just in time to rescue Daniel and Teal’c from Heru’ur. Apophis arrives after his defeat to “learn” the child has been stolen by Heru’ur. She does not reveal SG-1 is hiding in the pyramid from Apophis, thereby proving she is fighting against Goa’uld control.

“Secrets’ is a solid episode. It is packed with great character moments which also further the overall story arc while including an action oriented ending. If there is any flaw, it is the inclusion of Selig feels forced. Either the threat of the stargate’s exposure is thrown in to give Jack a more pivotal role in the episode, which still does not exactly measure up, or it was meant to be an wink to The X-Files and nothing more, it is still the episode’s weak spot. But not weak enough to be considered a serious detriment.

Rating: *** (out of 5)

Reese Witherspoon

Formspring Question #347--Palin Pandering Edition

What is Sarah Palin's game? Does she want to be Newt's vice-presidential pick?

No. When Newt Gingrich dropped her name as a potential running mate, he was pandering to Tea Partiers just as much as he was mentioning Marco Rubio as a possible veep choice to Florida Republicans in the last debate. Sarah Palin knows that. Her time as a serious candidate for any office, assuming she ever truly enjoyed one, has passed. I assume she knows that, too.

As for why she is so adamantly backing Gingrich, I assume she is trying to hold on to her conservative icon status. It I probably no coincidence she agreed to keynote the 2012 CPAC and began cheerleading for Gingrich shortly after there were no takers for her latest reality show idea. You know, the one featuring her husband snowmobiling that barely registered on anyone’s radar? Her punditry is the only thing she has left, so she has to keep her ultraconservative fan base on her side.

I would not necessarily discount the idea Palin and Gingrich have become friends since they both worked at FOX News. I suspect she is more motivated by self-interest than to help out a buddy, but just throwing it out there. Palin has a history of doing weird and impulsive things for reasons that are not often clear.

Formspring Question #346--Newt-ron Bomb Edition

Think Newt can rally in Florida like he did in SC w/o another debate?

No fair. You are going to make me preview my Florida primary predictions a day early. Spoilsport.

I am more skeptical Newt Gingrich can win Florida than I was a week ago. There was a genuine distaste for Mitt Romney in South Carolina, so much so we were willing to risk our 30 year streak of the eventual nominee always winning the South Carolina primary, because we did not like Romney. Gingrich became the beneficiary because he has staked his fortunes in conservative southern states and we liked his combativeness in the debates. Florida obviously has a different mood. The wealthy snowbirds appear to be more moderates down there.

I imagine the ’boosts” of the tea Party endorsement and Herman Cain’s support are probably things gingrich would have had going for him anyway. Rick Santorum does not generate much excitement among the Tea Partiers and cain voters are natural gingrich voters even without his blessing. If the Tea Partiers and the Cainiacs can be credited as a surprise factor that puts Gingrich over the top tomorrow rather than making up the base of support that still has him trailing Romney now, it would be a genuine surprise.

Nevertheless, I do not expect a huge blowout by Romney. I hate to sound conspiratorial, but I feel like any news about Romney is being presented in the best possible light light. The GOP establishment wants him as the nominee. For whatever reason, the Democrats do, too. Maybe they think conservatives will stay home on Election day rather than vote for another moderate like John McCain or Bob Dole. That only means that Gingrich is probably going to do better than is generally assumed. Winning Florida is another matter. I am just not sure how reliably conservative florida Republicans are.

Formspring Question #345--Weed Whacker Edition

Do you support legalizing pot?

I do not care enough to make it a big issue either way. If pot legalization was a ballot initiative, I would vote yes. It would not bother me if my elected officials voted in favor of legalizing pot. Nor would I much care if they took a moral stand against it. While I am confident pot would be less of a bane on society than alcohol consumption, it is just not that big a deal to me. There are more important things to work on first.

Besides, legalizing pot would not be as great as its advocates believe. We are an absurdly judgmental country when it comes to personal habits. We outright ban smoking even in some bars. Smokers are segregated at from non-smokers even in places where smoking is accepted. Those who partake in alcohol have to qualify themselves as “occasional’ or ’social’ drinkers to avoid being labeled drunks. We even go after food. Vegetarians flip out over those who eat meat. health food nuts are on everyone’s case. You are not even supposed to buy your kids a happy meal these days because some lax parents do not care enough about their bratty young ones to keep them from scarfing down enough junk food to make them resemble the Michelin Man.

If pot were legalized, the stigma of pot smokers as dumb, lazy, and unreliable would persist. There would be even fewer places for pot smokers to partake than cigarette smokers. The end result would be as though pot had never been legalized in the first place.

It likely will not be, either. there is a growing private prison industry that has a vested interest in incarcerating as many as it can for as long as it can. This industry is one of the main reasons we have the highest percentage of citizens incarcerated than any other country. The private prison industry employs lobbyists all over the united states to promote three strikes laws and zero tolerance policies. Considering how many inmates are incarcerated on drug related crimes, one should not expect any slack in drug laws to be forthcoming.

Which is not to say you should buy into the drug legalization myth the majority of those incarcerated on drug related crimes are decent folk unfairly busted for simple possession. As this study shows, the vast majority incarcerated on drug related crimes are extremely violent and dangerous. Nevertheless, pot smokers are not likely to join the side of angels at any point as long as their is momeny to be made locking them up.

Stargate SG-1--"Family"

“Family” revisits Teal’c’s family situation back on Chulak while showing us the aftermath of Apophis’ failed attempt to conquer Earth. If you are a big teal’c fan, this is the episode for you. Or maybe not. He gets roughed up pretty badly on an emotional level.

Bra’tac comes through the stargate, something he is only supposed to do in an emergency, to warn Teal’c Apohis has kidnapped his son apophis’ army is now in tatters, so he is looking for a way to maintain his hold on Chulak. The theory is to use Rya’c to lure Teal’c to chulak and arrest him as a traitor. Knowing full well this is a trap, Teal’c opts to rescue his son anyway, with Bra’tac and SG-1 for back up.

When they arrive on Chulak, Teal’c discovers his wife Drey’ac has married one of his closest friends, Flo’tac. Faster than you can say kiss my grits, Teal’c disowns his wife and promise to kill Flo’tac once his son has been rescued.. Bra’tac convinces Teal’c his wife and child are better off now without being forced to live with his disgrace, and reluctantly agrees. But he gets another shock when the palace rescue attempt fails because rya’c is brainwashed into a loyal minion to Apophis.

Speaking of palace intrigue, Teal’c and Drey’ac rekindle their romance while flo’tac secretly watches. In response, he decides to turn Teal’c in to Apophis. Jack stops him from doing so, but has to kill him in the process. Drey’ac shrugs his death off like a trooper. When Rya’c appears on a televised speech with apophis in which he supposedly sends a coded message to Teal’c about where to rescue him tomorrow, he shrugs off his son’s earlier betrayal like a trooper, too. I am rather amused at drey’ac coming across as an opportunist throughout the episode while Teal’c has such a genuine love for his son, he is willing to believe anything. I will bet when they were married, Drey’ac chewed Teal’c up and spit him out on a regular basis. It does not matter how big you are, a woman can take you down.

Teal’c is being naïve, of course. Rya’c is not only brainwashed, but booby trapped with poison gas in two false teeth which is potent enough to kill all life on earth within a week. Even the incredibly easy rescue does not prove anything until Frasier discovers the false teeth back on Earth. But the whole human genocide thing is glossed over in favor of Teal’c attempting to reach his brainwashed son. Frasier gives up rather quickly on Teal’c trying to reach him and skips sending in a cult deprogrammer, which you would think should be the next idea, to head straight for Electro Convulsive Therapy. Look, I know the Cult Awareness network, the experts in cult deprogramming, were sued out of existence by the Church of Scientology over a decade ago, so now deprogrammers attached to CAN fret over Thetans, but should counseling really be skipped in favor of frying a kid with electrodes?

But wait, it gets worse. Teal’c decides that it is his responsibility to heal his son, so he opts to shoot him with a Goa’uld energy weapon rather than let Frasier sedate Rya’c and administer shocks medically. I suppose it turns out to be the right decision. Rya’c writhes in pain after being shot, but wakes up fine. A few brain cells friend, but otherwise fine. He and Drey’ac go live with the People of Light, who apparently do not hold a grudge over that whole Hassan are incredibly rude thing a few episodes back.

The choice to use ECT on Rya’c piqued my curiosity. Put aside for the moment Teal’c decided to perform ECT by shooting his son. We can chalk that one up to dramatic embellishment. The question is whether ETC is used as a treatment for brainwashing. I had to look it up. Needless to say, ECT is controversial. Only about 100,000 are performed each year and only in cases of mood disorders in which suicide is imminent. Within that criteria, there is sharp division as to whether ECT ought to be performedi have only taken a superficial scan of the issue from Google search results, but the bottom line appears to be ECT is as close to a reset button the brain has. Psychologists are not even certain why it works or are confident of the long term results. Nevertheless, it is considered a last resort under at best and a human rights violation at worst. I invite anyone interested to search the issue.

“Family’ is questionable up one side and down the other. It is scripted by Katharyn Powers, so what do I expect? All I can say is the decision was not only made to perform ECT on a child, but that was not good enough, so they opted to shoot him instead.--and it worked! Frasier must have graduated from the Katharyn Janeway School of Psychology.

Rating: ** (out of 5)

Brooklyn Decker

Blogroll Spotlight #130

It is time for the weekly round up of favorite posts from my blogroll. These are not ranked, but in alphabetical order by blog title. If you would like a specific post listed next week, you may email it to me and I will include it.

Adrienne's Corner-Sarah Palin Calls GOP Establishment Cannibals
American Perspective-Kate Beckinsale-Rule 5
American Power-Australian Bikini Rule 5
Amusing Bunni's Musings-Security Stepped Up for Summer Olympics
And So It Goes in Shreveport-Loose Thoughts
Atlas Shrugs-CIA/DOD Reckless on Jihad: CIA Operative's Family speaks
Betsy's Page-Live by the Debates, Die by the Debates
Blazing Cat Fur-A Multicultural Moment: Shafia's Relatives Endorse Honour-Killings
Blog of the Nightfly-Pedantric
Bluegrass Pundit-Twitter Sellout: Twitter Planning to Allow Countries to Censor Tweets
Bride of Rove-Offer Me the Moon
Camp of the Saints-Rule 5 Saturday; Erica Durance
Classic Liberal-Rule 5 Tattoo
Conservative Hideout-Obamney's Healthcare?
Da Tech Guy-They Laughed at the Wright Brothers...Great countries do Great Things
Daley Gator-*VIDEO* Congressman Allen West Speaks At Palm Beach GOP Lincoln Day Dinner
Dell's Bottom Line-Reuters Hit Piece On Marco Rubio Requires FIVE Corrections!
Diogenes' Middle Finger-Obama Gots OSCAR Nod
Essential Mr. Bill-Kerry, Lemiuex, and Thomas: A Hockey Post
First Street Journal-Rule 5 Blogging: How Did She Cook This?
Fishersville Mike-cain Makes Plain He'll Endorse newt's Campaign
Gormogons-Bibles in Public Schools??!???
House of Eratosthemes-Twenty-Five soldiers Surprise Their Families
In a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World-The Friday Pin Up
Jaded Haven-Conservative Kittens
Lazy Farmer-There Are No Atheists in the Foxholes
Left Coast Rebel-L.L. Bean Heiress Endorses Ron Paul
Legal Insurrection-Hope and Change Some Didn't Believe In
Lonely Conservative-Latest Story
Marco Rubio: Why Would We Want to Become Like the Countries Everyone Else Tries to Escape?
Maggie's Notebook-Rule 5 Saturday Night: Elsa Benitez
Mind Numbed Robot-Why I Love Texas
Motor City Times-Obama Demands Taxpayers Increase Funding For Overpriced Universities
Nice Deb-Gingrich, Romney in Dead Heat In Latest FL Poll! + Videos
No Runny Eggs-The "Who's the Reagan Protege" Debate
Other McCain-Herman Cain Endorses Newt Gingrich
Paco Enterprises-sunday Funnies
Pirate's Cove-FBI Shuts Down File Sharing Site Megaupload – We Need SOPA And PIPA Why?
Proof Positive-Obama's state of Confusion Address
Pundit & Pundette-"audacity of Despair"
Randy's Roundtable-Thursday Nite Tart
Reaganite Republican-Reaganite's Sunday Funnies
Riehl World View-Conservatives Opposed to Mitt Romney in the General Election
Right Klik-Hugo Chavez' daughter's Fistful of American Dollars
Sentry Journal-How Will History Judge This Generation If We Let Our Republic Slip Away?
Teresamerica-Lea Michele New Candies Girl Rule 5
Troglopundit-Why Do Environmentalists Hate Plants?
Virtual Mirage-Will the Chinese Trump the US Intel Initiative
Vodkapundit-Falling Up
Washington Rebel-Flying Blind
We the People-Video of the Day: "A Brief History" Edition
WyBlog-My Weekly Obama Jobs Report, the Obamanomics Sets New Records Edition
Zilla of the Resistance-Let's Make a Miracle Happen

Stargate SG-1--"Message in a Bottle"

“Message in a Bottle,’ an ironically titled bottle show, can also justifiably be called Sttargate Meets The Andromeda Strain. I will be generous and call it an homage, but one wonders if writer Brad Wright was hoping no one watching the episode has ever seen the movie or read the novel. I will grant some originality in the episode and a creative, non-violent resolution, so thumbs up for SG-1 not shooting its way out of a problem.

The SG-1 team encounters an orb on a dead planet resembling Earth’s moon. They find an orb that dates back from an advanced civilization 100,000 years ago. They debate whether it is dangerous to take the orb back to earth, but conclude any power source than can keep it running for such a long period of time must be studied and hopefully utilized. Back at SGC, Daniel and Sam attempt to decipher microscopic writings on the ord to no avail. When it begins emitting high levels of radiation, Jack orders the stargate opened to send the orb back to the planet. The orb instead locks itself in place with extended “arms,” one of which spears Jack through his left shoulder.

The arm infects Jack with a glowing pathogen that soon infects everyone and everything else in SGC. The whole facility is put on lockdown quarantine and an auto-self-destruct countdown called Wildfire is begun to destroy the pathogen rather than allow it to spread beyond SGC. Efforts to destroy the orb by shooting it with Teal’c’s staff weapon and depriving it off oxygen fail until it dawns on Daniel they have been going about this all wrong. They have been treating it like a disease when it is actually an intelligent alien that trying to communicate. Once they feed it more energy, the alien reveals through Jack that it has no desire to harm anyone, but will not go back to the dead world on which iyt was found. Hammond compromises with the aliens, because when SGC blows, it will release enough energy to cause infection across the entire planet, to send the aliens to a primordial world in exchange for regaining control of SGC. It is a deal folks.

“Message in a Bottle” is pretty much The Andromeda Strain. In the novel/film, there is an alien pathogen that feeds off energy introduced to earth. There is a quarantine similar ro Wildfire. The heroes have to prevent a nuclear explosion that will give off enough energy for the pathogen to infect the entire Earth. I have never read the novel, and I could take or leave the film, so I am not all that bothered by the similarities with “Message in a Bottle.” If there are fans out there who consider the episode a rip off, so be it. On its own merit, it is an exciting episode that creatively gets around what could feel like a throwaway budget-saving story. The story instead emphasizes the skills of the main characters to resolve the conflict. Of note is the loyalty teal’c demonstrates to jack as he spends the entire episode pinned to the wall through his shoulder. Ouch. If there is any real detriment, it is the self-destruct sequence being stopped with exactly one second left to go. Come on--is that not a little too cliché at this point?

Rating; *** (out of 5)

Susan Coffey

Full Metal Jacket Reach Around #135

It is time once again to round up all the bloggers gracious enough to link to me this week.

Proof Positive links to Jessica Alba, Olivia Munn, and Elizabeth Hurley.
Say Anything links to Jessica Alba, Olivia Munn, and Elizabeth Hurley.
Motor City Times links to Rightward Ho An Electoral No?
Pirate's Cove links to FMJRA # 134, Blogroll Spotlight #129, and Sandra Bullock.
Sentry Journal links to South Carolina Primary Wrap Up.
Randy's Roundtable links to Adriana Lima and Rose Byrne.
Classic Liberal links to Blake Lively, Elizabeth Hurley, and Olivia Munn.
American Perspective links to Olivia Munn.
The Other McCain links to Blake Lively.
Teresamerica links to Olivia Munn.
Maggie's Notebook links to Blake Lively.
Reaganite Republican links to Emma Stone.

A sincere thank you to all who linked this week. If you linked to me in the last week, but I do not have you here, you unfortunately fell through the cracks of Technorati, Google Blog Search, and Sitemeter. Please drop me a note in the comments and I will update with your link.

Stargate SG-1--"Thor's Chariot"

I had mixed emotions going into “Thor’s Chariot." The Asgard are my favorite alien race. I am a devoted X-Phile, so how can I not appreciate the Roswell aliens? Any episode I have not seen yet which features the Asgard perks me up. But oh, no--the episode is written by Katharyn Powers, aka the Lisa Klink of Stargate SG-1. My fears were put to rest almost immediately. “Thor’s Chariot” is a solid arc episode.

Stargate Command receives the ’message’ of an object coming through the stargate without opening the iris. An analysis raises speculation it was the box from the Sagan Institute left behind on Cimmeria to be given to the Asgard should they ever return. Assuming the Asgard have returned, SGC sends a probe through the stargate to Cimmeria only to discover the people are being slaughtered by the Jaffa. With their only defense, Thor’s Hammer, having been destroyed in order to save Teal ’c on SG-1’s first visit, the team feels responsible for the slaughter and go to help.

What is interesting about “Thor’s Chariot’ is how the SG-1 team splits up in order to maximize their particular talents. Jack and Teal’c engage in a guerilla war with the Jaffa in order to keep them away from the cave in which the Cimmerian survivors are hiding. The battle is classic firefights, and explosions on a surprisingly grand scale for a cable series. On the other hand, Daniel, Sam, and Girwyn, who we met on the last trip to cimmeria, go off in search of the perhaps mythical Thor’s Hall of Might to see if it has any useful weapons. The three of them are caught up in some Indiana Jones’esque traps which test their spirits and minds more than anything else. So the main cast members are utilized perfectly.

The two tests, by the way, involve crossing a narrow bridge which is intended to set up the opportunity for one waking on the bridge to risk his life to save another as a test of character. The other is to identify pi from markings on separate walls in order to figure out to press a circle on a far wall to make Thor appear in his true grey alien form. One point I liked about the latter is Daniel, brilliant archeologist though he is, needs Sam to point out that pi is the solution and relate it to the circle on the wall. Daniel is not the Sam Beckett uber-genius who knows every minute detail of every intellectual subject. He--and all the characters--are real people who need help when backed into a corner, either physically or mentally. I will admit this is a personal appreciation. My experience in law school was the more expertise a law professor had in his subject, and I am talking brilliant men and women here, the less likely they could pull out a simple fist year concept from another subject. That sort of thing happens, and it is neat to see it on television after all this time of every character on Star Trek knowing absolutely everything they need to know for every conceivable situation. Your mileage may vary.

The two teams rendesvous with each other in disappointment. Jack and teal’c do not have the firepower to defeat the Jaffa. The Asgards had no weapons in thor’s Hall of might, either. Solving the tests was to prove maturity of the Cimmerians. The SG-1 team is forced to surrender in order to prevent the Cimmerians from being slaughtered, but the Asgards intervene in a huge spaceship--the real Thor’s chariot--and put an end to the Jaffa threat.

‘Thor’s Chariot” is a highly entertaining episode. As I noted above, it is well split between action and clever brain teasers. It is also monumental for the overall story arc. We meet Heru’ur, son of Ra and Hathor, for the first time. We get a glimpse of Thor in his true form and discover how powerful the Asgard are. Finally, we learn, thanks to her connection with Jolinar, Sam can operate Goa’uld technology with concentration. Powers has surprised me here with an impressive script. Do I need to cut her more slack for the future?

Rating: *** (out of 5)

Katee Sackhoff and Mary McDonnell

A blast from the Battlestar Galactica past.